


Challenging Nature

by Anonymous



Series: born one way, broken another [1]
Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Attempted Brainwashing, Breeding Kink, Conditioning, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Emotional Whump, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gaslighting, Graphic Rape, Homophobia, Humiliation, Intersex Omegas, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Sexism, Trauma, conversion therapy, corrective rape, dark!fic, mentions of Will/Matthew Brown
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:06:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26153128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: When 16-year-old Omega Will Graham is found in a relationship with another Omega, his father sends him to Dr. Lecter for corrective treatment.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Series: born one way, broken another [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1899166
Comments: 74
Kudos: 248
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is VERY NASTY AND UPSETTING. Please read those tags, this is basically an a/b/o version of anti-lesbian "conversion therapy" (which is a horrible and damaging practice, and this is not intended as an accurate representation - please see end note for semi-spoilery details on what that will involve here). My plan is for a two part series, and the second part MIGHT have a revenge arc/semi-happy ending but it’s gonna be a long awful road till then. Don't read if you can't handle dark whumpy fics.
> 
> Please note that after the first 2-3 chapters, this fic contains lots of extremely explicit non-consensual sexual content. Many of the tags are for future chapters, but I might still end up adding a few before this is done.
> 
> Everything out of Hannibal's mouth is bullshit and goes against all my beliefs as a queer person. I shouldn't have to state this but that fantasy/reality line is real important.
> 
> Take care of yourself and please close the tab if this content is dangerous to your mental health.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter didn’t publicize his Omega “corrective” services, but word of mouth proved effective at bringing a few cases to his door now and again. There were always parents around who were either aghast at their children having sex with other Omegas, or were hoping to fetch a better price from their suitors. The issue was not always one of gender preference – sometimes the patients were simply obstreperous and required education in obedience, sometimes they were entirely frigid and required general sexual education. Either way, he enjoyed the challenge of trying to change a patient’s essential nature, though if the patient just wasn’t very interesting, he may still reject a case.

Will Graham was a case that he became fond of very quickly, and that was in part due to his sheer beauty. Between his dark, curly lashes that gave his sharp blue eyes a doe-like appearance, his bright skin and baby face and messy swaths of curls, his plush lips so pink that it looked like they were perpetually recently bitten, and the delicacy of his upturned nose and long, graceful neck… he was the very definition of youthful Omega beauty.

“It’s nice to meet you, Will,” Hannibal said with a warm smile, but Will didn’t smile back. Hannibal saw his nose twitch and his frown deepen. Hannibal used a generic Alpha scent blocker that would make him smell vague and bland, which he found was generally less distracting for patients, but it made it difficult for them to get an emotional read on him, so some nosy ones found it vexing. Will clearly did.

“I don’t want to be here,” Will said as soon as he stepped into the office.

Hannibal didn’t miss a beat. “Why don’t you come in and sit down, and then we can talk about why you don’t want to be here.”

“Not like I have any choice.”

He didn’t sit down, not immediately. He wandered around the room, taking in the sights.

“Can I look at your books?”

“Perhaps after your session, if we have time. Please, take a seat.”

Will turned around sat in the chair across from Hannibal with a grimace.

“My dad said you’re an Omega specialist.”

“My psychiatric education emphasized adolescent health, but yes, I’ve become known for my treatment of Omegas.”

“But you’re an Alpha.”

“Yes. Does that bother you?”

“Depends how you treat me. Are you one of those Alphas who think Omegas are only good for being housewives and breeders?”

“I am quite aware that Omega capabilities can extend beyond the domestic terrain.”

Will relaxed a fraction, but not entirely. “Is there a ‘but’?”

There was a moment of silence, since it wouldn’t do to say anything now that would put Will on the defensive. Instead of explaining his skepticisms, Hannibal said, “I’m far more interested in learning about how _you_ view Omegas. We’re here to talk about you, not me. What do you believe you’re ‘good for’?”

Will raised his chin. “Lots of things. I’m good at science. Chemistry, biology. I want to go into forensics.”

“Very ambitious.” Hannibal noted that he was defiant, even combative, but he at least wasn’t yet prone to a certain crude gracelessness and profanity that he often witnessed in troubled teenagers.

“I’m not the first Omega to go into forensics.” With a huff, he said, “If I wanted to be a cop, that’d be a different story. Too _risky_.”

“Is that a possibility you’ve investigated?”

Will shrugged. “My friend Matthew wanted to be a cop, but he’s an Omega too, and he doesn’t think he can. He’s trying to figure out what else he wants to do.”

“Ah, yes. Your father mentioned Matthew over the phone.”

Will’s jaw visibly clenched. “What did he tell you?”

“He told me he discovered the two of you in a sexual relationship.”

“That’s not… that’s not true.”

“What did he see, then?”

“Nothing.”

“Then can you explain what the two of you doing, while completely undressed, that created enough slick that he was able to smell it from the front door?”

Will flushed. Perhaps his father hadn’t shared that particular detail with his son. He didn’t answer.

“Your father mentioned that he’d noticed the two of you were unusually close for several months, although he’d never seen anything untoward. He also mentioned that you’d never shown any romantic or sexual interest in Alphas before.”

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business.”

“It is precisely my business, Will. That’s why we’re here, because your father wasn’t having success when he tried to speak to you about it, and he hoped a professional would have more luck. If you want to tell your side of the story, you need to speak up.”

Will didn’t speak up. He stared fixedly at Hannibal’s colorful pocket square, not meeting his eyes.

Finally, Hannibal said, “It’s natural for the absence of an Alpha partner to cause sexual and emotional frustration, particularly for young Omegas. It’s not altogether uncommon under those circumstances for an Omega to experiment and attempt to satisfy their sexual impulses with an Omega friend, though they won’t find it a fulfilling experience. Clearly your experimentation with Matthew left you unsatisfied and embarrassed by what transpired.”

“It wasn’t like that!” Will burst out, just as Hannibal had hoped he would.

“Are you sure? You haven’t had a word of defense for whatever your relationship with Matthew may have been. How am I to know it isn’t simply causing you distress? I could advise your father that it would be best to ensure you cut off all contact with Matthew immediately, before your distress can intensify.”

“No, please. You don’t understand, it’s not just us messing around, I… I _love_ him.” The young Omega looked so sincere. He certainly believed he was telling the truth, at any rate.

“So your relationship is not, as you said, ‘nothing.’ Your father was correct in his assessment that it had been going on for months?”

Will nodded.

“How long?”

“Since… since May, I guess. That’s when we realized we had feelings for each other. So five months.”

“Is it your first romantic relationship?”

“Yeah. A bunch of Alphas have asked me out but… it’s not what I wanted.”

“Have you ever experienced attraction to Alphas? Or women?”

Will shrugged. “I thought I had a crush or two on an Alpha when I was younger, but not since puberty. I think it was just that I wanted to be their friend. I like women alright, wouldn’t rule out dating one.”

“Did you have any traumatic experiences at the onset of puberty that frightened you away from Alphas?”

“What? No. Nothing like that.”

“Are you sure? It wouldn’t be the first time you’ve lied about something being ‘nothing.’”

“I’m not _traumatized_. I just don’t like Alphas all that much, okay? I mean, I don’t hate them, at least not the ones who aren’t assholes. But I don’t want to fuck them. I don’t like their smell, I don’t like how… hairy and sweaty they are. I _definitely_ don’t like how they act around Omegas in heat, and I don’t like their…” He gestured vaguely.

“Genitals?” The difference between Alphas and Omegas was significant. In addition to an array of more feminine physical traits, Omegas had very small penises without knots or balls, and with vaginas neatly tucked behind them.

Will nodded. “It’s _everything_ , okay? I just like Omegas a lot more.”

“There’s no need to be so defensive, Will. I believe you.”

Will blinked. “You do?”

“I do.” In fact, Hannibal rather liked the boy. He was guarded, but genuine, and his relationship with another Omega was clearly something he was doing for himself, not simply to annoy his father, and his aversion to Alphas likewise seemed to be more than shallow rebellion. But Hannibal’s job wasn’t to comfort him, his job was to change him.

He watched Will relax a fraction, then continued. “It’s clear that you have feelings for Matthew, and that you are not currently experiencing any attraction to Alphas. I think it’s unfortunate that you can’t remember what happened that upset your natural instincts, but there are ways to fix this regardless of the original cause.”

He saw alarm quickly reappear on the boy’s face. He looked practically queasy. “W-what do you mean, fix it? What if nothing caused it, why couldn’t this just be the way I am?”

“I know it may feel perfectly natural to you now, but that’s biologically impossible. Alphas and Omegas are pheromonally attuned to each other; you may not feel attraction to every Alpha, as not everyone is a perfect mate candidate, but you should naturally experience at least occasional attraction. And the primary biological imperative of Omegas is breeding, that’s how a rare mutation became a fixture in the general population. Unless your education has been sorely lacking, you know perfectly well that Omegas can only breed with an Alpha.”

“That’s bullshit. I don’t _want_ to breed!”

“That’s yet another sign that you’ve experienced psychological damage, I’m afraid. In modern society, some Omegas choose to prioritize things other than family, it’s true, and as a result they can age out of their most fertile years without having had any children. That can give the impression that they’ve _chosen_ not to have children, when in reality they have merely missed their opportunity to conceive. It’s always a devastating realization, regardless of the Omega’s professed priorities.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You can’t know that for certain. And even if you do, what of Matthew?”

“Matt wants to be with me. He said so.”

“But what of the future? Have you discussed whether he wants to have children? He doesn’t necessarily share your disinterest in breeding. And if that’s the case, you could be settings yourself up for frustration and disappointment, even a sense of failure when you are unable to provide him the child he needs.”

It was likely, being so young, they had not discussed it. And rather than address the issue directly, Will simply said, “I’m not the only Omega to date someone of my own gender. I’ve seen them online, they seem happy enough.”

“Glimpses of strangers’ lives on the internet are not a useful counterargument to a psychiatric professional with a full medical degree and specialization in the area. You have no way of knowing if those people really are as happy and fulfilled as they claim to be. You might as well argue that Omega/Omega pornography is testament to the existence of sexual attraction between Omegas, when in reality it only exists because Alphas find it visually pleasing and the taboo titillating. The actors are performers, not lovers, and the most pleasure that normal Omegas could hope to get out of the experience would be an exhibitionist thrill and pleasure from arousing the Alphas filming them.”

Hannibal couldn’t tell anymore whether Will’s face was red from anger or humiliation at his easy dismissal.

“Even if that’s true, why do you care if I’m fucking another Omega? Why does my _dad_ care? We’re not hurting anyone.”

“Arguably, you are hurting yourselves. Even if we were to assume that your sexual proclivities are natural rather than being maladaptive, how can you be sure the same is true of Matthew? You could be holding him back from engaging in more fulfilling relationships with an Alpha partner. You could both remain in the relationship for too long out of a sense of obligation, and by the time you realize your mistake, your prospects for mates and breeding could be poorer. More pressingly, there is no way for all of an Omega’s physical, sexual needs could be taken care of without an Alpha partner, and your unfulfilled heats could take a heavy toll on you.” He spoke half-truths. It was rare, but some Omegas seemed capable of getting through a heat with a non-Alpha partner and some sex toys, and Will might be one of them. But he didn’t like to think of this young beauty shutting out any Alpha from claiming his body and fertile womb, instead fleeing between the thighs of another doubtlessly pretty young thing, who could never knot him, or mate him, or fill him til bursting with cum. “Have you had a heat recently?”

He shook his head. “Not since my first when I was 14. Birth control.”

“Omega birth control hasn’t been studied enough for indefinite use to know if that would be safe. You’ll have to come off it at some point, and only then will you be aware of how well you are coping.”

“So my dad’s problem is just concern for my health?”

“For your health, for your future. You’ve doubtless been made aware that peak Omega fertility is 2-4 years after their first heat, and that is the recommended age to have their first child, to make the process easier for future pregnancies. You were a bit early, as many Omegas don’t have a heat until they are 16, but your father will still be hoping to find a mate for you within the next two years.”

“You mean he’s hoping to get a dowry for me within the next two years.”

“Either way, given your looks, I doubt he’ll have a problem. Unless, of course, his son is inclined to reject all appropriate suitors on the basis of their gender.”

“You think he’d care if I rejected them? He didn’t care when I tried to reject the idea of therapy.”

“Even if he doesn’t care about your preferences, he will care if the marriage is left unconsummated and rendered void, the dowry returned. He would be left with a disgraced Omega and no money to support him.”

“Not necessarily.” With a grimace, he said, “If the Alpha doesn’t care if I consent to marriage, he probably won’t care if I consent to sex.”

Hannibal nodded slightly. “You may not be wrong about that. In which case, wouldn’t it be better to go into marriage with a better chance of attraction to the suitor, rather than condemn yourself to an unhappy marriage and an uncomfortable marriage bed?”

“I’m unhappy and uncomfortable _now_. Doesn’t that count for something?” Will slumped back in the chair, crossing his arms. “It doesn’t matter what you say. I don’t think you can change me, and even if you could, I’m not going to cooperate.”

“You simply haven’t been given the appropriate motivation yet,” Hannibal said. Then he tilted his head, thinking of what would suffice. “How about this as an offer. You’ve obviously formed an attachment to Matthew, and I don’t want to cause unnecessary disruption by cutting him out of your life when you are undergoing difficult therapy, even though I cannot in good conscience allow you to continue a romantic or sexual relationship with him. Therefore, if you’re cooperating fully with your therapy, I can recommend your father allow you to have supervised time with him. Not daily, but occasionally.”

Hannibal paused long enough that Will was forced to ask, “And if I don’t cooperate?”

“If you stop coming to your sessions, refuse to speak to me when you are here, or cause such a fuss that it becomes impossible for me to carry out productive conversations with you, I will advise your father to take steps to stop you from speaking with Matthew ever again, and we will involve Matthew’s parents if necessary. Is that clear?”

Will looked like he was ready to grab the nearest portable object and chuck it at Hannibal’s head, but he nodded.

“I’m glad we understand each other.” Hannibal said lightly. “Now, why don’t you tell me more about your background. I’d like to know you a bit better before developing a treatment plan.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short update, mostly just setting things up for the next few chapters, which is when this fic will really earn the "nasty and upsetting" warning.

When the first session was complete, Hannibal asked to speak privately with Will’s dad about his treatment, and Will left the office in a huff, slamming the door behind him. He waited by the car and scuffed his shoe against the concrete, frustrated that he’d been shut out of a conversation that was about him.

When his dad emerged, it was with a new demand. “Hand over your phone.”

“What? No!”

“Doctor’s orders, buddy. We can’t have you sending ‘sexts’ with Matthew or anything like that. Give it here.” Eyeing Will’s crossed arms, he said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You might’ve sprouted up like a weed in the last few years, but you haven’t packed on the muscle, so if you wanna fight me for it, you’re gonna lose. Got it?”

Will glared at his dad. Even if he was stronger, he wouldn’t have wanted to get into a physical fight with his dad, who was heavily muscled from lugging around boat parts all his life.

“I need to text Matthew and explain first.”

“I’ll let his parents know you’ve been grounded and had phone privileges revoked.”

“You won’t tell them why though, right?”

“That’s their own business. As long as he doesn’t cause any trouble or try to climb up through your bedroom window or anything, I’ll leave it be. Don’t wanna get in any arguments about who started it or what should be done about it, so you keep your head down, and they won’t hear it from me.”

“Fine.” Will dug the phone out of his pocket and handed it over. “Anything else?”

“I’m taking away your tablet when we get home.”

“I need that for schoolwork!”

“You’ll get it for schoolwork, but once you’re done with homework every evening I’m taking it away.”

“What exactly are you afraid I’m doing on there?”

“I don’t know what you’re doing, and usually I wouldn’t care, but Dr. Lecter wants to make sure you’re not watching porn and enforcing your own… perversions.”

Will rolled his eyes, but it wasn’t worth arguing now any more than it was when his father had first confronted him. “Fine.”

“And your after-school activities are going to be limited for a while, to make sure you’re not sneaking off to see Matthew.”

“I’ll still get to see him though, right? Dr. Lecter said I could if I cooperated.”

“Yeah. No more than once a week, and I’ll be keeping an eye on things. You can study or watch TV or whatever it is you two do when you’re not humping each other.”

“Sounds like a blast.” He couldn’t help the sarcasm.

“I’m not any happier about this than you are, Will.” Will doubted that very much. “But we’ll figure it out. And once you, you know, talk it all out or whatever, we’ll both be better off.”

“You really believe that?” It sounded like wishful thinking, and his dad’s nod was unconvincing. “Fine. Whatever you say.”

It definitely wasn’t the best week of Will’s life. Even for someone who generally considered himself a loner, it was a bit much to have any contact with the outside world cut off at the end of every school day. His scheduled time with Matthew was supervised and awkward, but under the circumstances he was grateful for it.

“So. Guess he didn’t cool down like we hoped, huh?” Matthew nodded toward Will’s dad.

Will winced. He tried not to think about the day his dad had caught them. “He’s cooled down as much as he’s gonna. Now he’s got me seeing a shrink.”

“Ouch. How’s that going?”

“About as well as I’d expect. He’s convinced I’ve experienced ‘psychological damage’ and that’s why I don’t want to fuck Alphas. Usual therapist garbage. They think they can convert me.”

“Man, that’s bullshit. They say we’re damaged or that we’re crazy, when all we are is different. Don’t listen to ‘em.”

“I don’t plan on it.”

“Good. Has he figured else what else is different about you, or is he only worried about the sex stuff?”

“Don’t think he’d figure it out unless I talked about it, and I don’t want to give him another angle of attack. Even my dad just thinks I’m perceptive and kinda morbid.”

“You never know. Shrinks can be tricky. Think he’s any good?”

Will frowned. “He’s smart. I couldn’t get a read on him though. He wore some kind of scent blocker, and he’s very careful about what he lets show. Or maybe I was just too agitated to pick up on the little things.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, anyway. There’s nothing he can say that could change me.”

He couldn’t help wondering about Matthew though, now that Dr. Lecter had brought his attention to what his needs might be, at least eventually. He and Matthew hadn’t talked about a lot of big picture stuff. The conversation moved on, but eventually he asked abruptly, “Have you ever thought about having kids? Is that something you might want someday?”

“I dunno, maybe. Why, do you?”

“I don’t think so. It was something the shrink asked me about, and I realized I didn’t know how you felt about it. Would that be a problem, not having kids?”

Matthew shrugged. “That’s way in the future. We’ll figure it out.”

The vague answer didn’t make Will feel worse, exactly, but it didn’t do anything to alleviate that touch of concern.

In addition to everything else Will was dealing with, the loss of his internet privileges bothered him more and more over the next few weeks. More than just idle pastime, his free internet time had given him a sense of broader community. It was where he knew other Omegas who dated Omegas and were happy that way, and often they were very far away, but they were there. And every week without seeing them made them feel increasingly distant, like maybe they were just a mirage or lived in some parallel dream world where people like them were lucky enough to be happy. His only gauge in the real world was between Matthew and himself, and they definitely weren’t happy right now. They got to see each other once a week for less than an hour. They were effectively broken up, no matter how much they might quietly speculate about someday, when all this had blown over. Matthew told him it was fine having his father there, even though it wasn’t, just like Will told him he was doing okay, even though he wasn’t.

His sessions with Dr. Lecter were all as exhausting as the first. It seemed like they were just going to talk themselves in circles forever, with the doctor spouting nonsense that Will wouldn’t do more than dismiss. The man wasn’t stupid, and he had to know that this wasn’t going to work on Will. Will sensed it from him, even as he went through the motions of trying to convince Will of the error in his ways.

Eventually, when the doctor didn’t seem at all dissuaded by the lack of progress, it made Will suspicious of what else he might have up his sleeve.

\---

Hannibal’s initial attempt of a mild talk-based treatment plan was, in fact, mostly for show. It was better for appearance’s sake that he make this effort before moving on to more extreme methods, but he knew from his first appointment with Will that talk therapy alone would be unlikely to have any effect on him besides making him dig in his heels. His genuine attraction to Omegas and genuine non-attraction to Alphas necessitated a more hands-on approach. That approach would be far from unpleasant for the doctor, and he reminded himself of that fact often during a full month of weekly sessions in which he and Will, as predicted, made very little progress. They argued about Omega rights and biological imperatives, Will stubbornly refused to cooperate with any visualization exercises, and no combination of logical arguments or emotional shaming made a dent in him.

Finally, Hannibal spoke with Will’s father to ask for permission to take the treatment to the next level. After explaining the minimal effect that talk therapy seemed to have on the boy, he found the man was easy to convince, even after admitting that the process could be emotionally and even physically exhausting for the patient. Will’s father came to his office the next day alone, and Hannibal gave him a bottle of pills.

“These placebos should look identical to the birth control pills Will is taking to suppress his heats. Replace those pills with these. As we shift into our next section of treatment, he will notice an increase in sexual thoughts and urges as his heat cycle attempts to resume. He will be inclined to think these symptoms are a result of his therapy, and that he is becoming naturally aroused by Alphas.”

“And when his heat actually arrives?”

“There are a few options, depending on how well his therapy has proceeded. If he has become more receptive to Alphas, we can work on solidifying those connections and reactions, strengthening his pleasure associations. If he is still resistant, we can work on instilling a sense of dependence during his heat. Applying and removing stimuli, seeing how he feels once an Alpha is taken away from him and he is left with no stimulation at all.”

“Sounds rough.”

“In all honesty, it will be. But we must weigh the challenge of temporary discomfort against our hopes for his future. And although it may seem early to give up on more mild talk therapy, there is an advantage to striking now. Talk therapy gives him a chance to come up with arguments, to see my full array of techniques and figure out how to resist them. If during a hands-on session certain techniques or concepts are used which he is already used to arguing against, it can enable him to resist them on general principle even when he is in a less cognizant state. It is far more effective to work when he is in a vulnerable state, unable to formulate arguments, when concepts can be immediately demonstrated. In all my years of experience, this method has by far made the biggest impact on the patient’s behavior after therapy ends.” He left out the fact that the “biggest” impact was not necessarily the exact impact that was _desired_ , but his words were true enough.

Graham nodded.

“You’ll need to sign a release form,” Hannibal said. “And decide on your preferred schedule. I recommend daily sessions during the week that his heat is due, in addition to treatment during the heat itself, which should last 2-3 days. You can bring him in daily yourself, but patients can be a flight risk during this stage of treatment, so I recommend he stay overnight at the clinic where I’ve housed previous patients. They have comfortable locked rooms and the therapy can take place inside, so there’s no need for the complications of transportation. And there are visiting hours if you wish to see him, of course.”

“Alright. Send me the details later and I’ll have a look.”

“Of course.” But Hannibal already saw it in his face – he wanted this done and over with as soon as possible. He would agree to the full recommended treatment.

It would take six weeks after stopping birth control for Will’s heat cycle to kick off again. Hannibal would be counting the days.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay in posting this chapter! My general anxiety was bad enough that I couldn't deal with the extra anxiety around posting this one, but I'm a bit better now.
> 
> Things get nasty here (forced stay in hospital ward, electric shock treatment, gross sexual narratives, etc.) and will continue to get worse!

Dr. Lecter’s “therapy” didn’t get any worse over the course of the next month, but the daily restrictions still wore on Will, and he was giving serious consideration to whether it might be possible for him to just run away. But the prospects for a young Omega without an Alpha guardian were not good, and he was liable to end up in a worse position than before.

Hannibal repeatedly insisted that Will should direct any “masturbatory fantasies” to the subject of an Alpha, and Will repeatedly ignored him, defiantly jerking off in the middle of the night to thoughts of pretty omegas. Sometimes Matthew, sometimes not. The drawback to thinking of Matthew was that those memories, now that they were forced apart, were awfully bitter now.

But the escalation Will had feared didn’t materialize, and eventually he let his guard down, resigned to the sessions being a slow, tedious crawl as Hannibal discussed dumb theories like displacement and repression. Will didn’t give ground, and neither did Hannibal. When they weren’t talking about sex directly, Hannibal made Will give him a thorough personal history, taking notes as if he could piece together a reason Will was the way he was.

When Will’s dad decided to drive Will across town to get a flu shot, it seemed completely unrelated to his ongoing therapy, though he still had some questions.

“Isn’t it early for flu shots?” he had asked. “And doesn’t the pharmacy just down the block offer them?”

“Don’t ask me, I’m not a doctor. Just got an email about it. Guess there’s some kind of problem with distribution, so they want us to go to this other place.”

When they got to the hospital and started walking through the maze-like halls, Will’s dad seemed to know exactly where they were going, but didn’t tell Will what signs he should be looking for.

But when they turned a corner and Will saw a sign for “Omega Services” over a reception desk, he stopped in his tracks.

“What is this?” he asked, stomach suddenly dropping. He took a step back, and his dad grabbed his arm.

“Come on, Will. The doctor will explain.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with Dr. Lecter, does it?” He could tell by his dad’s face that it did. “No! I don’t know what you want me to do here, but I won’t cooperate with any more bullshit treatments.”

“You haven’t been cooperating with the current one either, or we wouldn’t be here.”

The receptionist peered over at them and asked, “Everything alright?”

Will’s dad sighed heavily. Still holding Will’s arm, he said, “We have an appointment, name’s Will Graham. My son is just causing a fuss.”

“Do you want me to call security to help out?”

He looked at Will. “Well? Can you handle this like an adult, or do you need to be dragged in kicking and screaming?”

Will shook his head. He knew he was going to lose, one way or another, so he decided to try to cling to a bit of dignity and walk forward on his ownn.

But once they were signed in and led into what he assumed was the exam room, he began to regret that decision. Instead of an exam table, there was what looked like an actual bed that someone would sleep in. And in the middle of the room there was a chair covered with straps that looked an awful lot like they were meant to tie someone up. And Hannibal was sitting in a chair against the wall, waiting for him.

Will froze in his tracks. “Dad, what…”

Hannibal spoke up. “Please sit down, Will.”

“No! What’s going on?”

He tried to shoulder past his dad back into the hallway, but his dad was stronger than he was, and with Hannibal’s help managed to get him onto the chair and strapped in. The straps were thick and the chair was bolted to the floor. There was no escaping it.

His dad looked at least mildly uncomfortable about the situation.

“I know this isn’t easy, Will, but it’s for the best. Try to cooperate with Dr. Lecter, he just wants to help you get better. I’ll be in to visit you every evening.”

“Every… how long am I going to be here?”

“Dr. Lecter will explain everything. Good luck, Will.”

And then he was left all alone with Dr. Lecter.

“We’ve entered a new stage of your therapy, Will. Your father and I were concerned about your apparent lack of progress, and we decided upon a new strategy. You will be here for the full week so your full attention can be placed on improvement.”

“The whole _week_? What about school?”

“Don’t worry about school. The principle has excused you from attendance this week.” Behind him, Will heard a drawer sliding open and some rustling, but even craning his neck, he couldn’t see what it was. “We’re adding a new element of reinforcement today and will be continuing through the week.” He unbuttoned Will’s shirt and stuck something to his chest beneath his collarbones. Then he rolled up his sleeves and stuck something to his inner elbows, and his wrists. When Will looked down, it looked like a jumble of wires. Hannibal walked behind him and brushed his hair off the nape of his neck. Something cool was pressed right against his mating gland, and Will snarled. It was too intimate. Matthew was the only person who had ever touched him there, and that was just gentle and exploratory.

“Relax,” Hannibal said. “You’ll enjoy this one.”

“Doubt it.”

“You’ll see.” Hannibal pulled a chair in front of him, and a small table within reach of it. On the table he set some kind of control box with two wires running out of it toward Will. He sat down with a notebook and cracked it open. “I’d like to start out with some baseline questions. We’ll use them to guide our therapy over the coming days and use as a measure of our progress.”

“What kind of questions?”

“I will make two statements and ask you to choose between them. You will repeat back whichever statement you agree with more. Clear enough?”

Will shrugged.

“Let’s try a very simple one. Which statement is correct: that you are an Omega, or that you are an Alpha?”

“I’m an Omega?”

“Exactly. Now for something a bit more challenging. Which statement do you agree with: ‘Omegas will only feel fulfilled in relationships with Alphas’ or ‘Omegas can have fulfilling relationships with any gender’?”

Will knew he was walking right into a point of contention, but he still said, “Omegas can have fulfilling relationships with any gender.”

Hannibal pressed a button on the switch box, and Will felt a painful jolt of electricity through his torso.

“What the _fuck_?” he yelled.

“That was incorrect.”

“You didn’t ask what was correct, you asked what I _agreed_ with.”

“That’s because your opinions are not currently consistent with the truth. Things that are true now will still be true by the time you finish therapy. What we hope is that your opinions will change and come into alignment with the truth.”

“So you’re just going to zap me whenever I say something you don’t like?”

“For this exercise, yes.”

“Do I get any reward if I _do_ say something you like?”

“Why don’t you try on the next question, and see what happens. You’re very intelligent, Will, I’m sure you know by know what responses I want to see.”

Will just glared at him.

“Which of the following options is more accurate: you enjoy sexual fantasies about Alphas, or you enjoy sexual fantasies about Omegas?”

Will stared at him for a long moment, and decided he might as well give him the answer he wanted. He didn’t actually have to believe what he was saying, and it was better than getting shocked every time. “‘I enjoy sexual fantasies about Alphas,’” he said, though so dryly it was clear it was false.

Hannibal pressed a different button on the switch box, and this time whatever he had placed against Will’s mating gland jumped into action, a short but deep vibrating rumble that made his spine feel like it was melting and sent a warm pulse of pleasure through his mind.

“What…?” He blinked hard, feeling suddenly a bit dazed.

“I’m sure you know mating glands release dopamine when punctured by an Alpha’s teeth, among other hormones. But it’s also possible to trigger some dopamine release by stimulating the gland with the right frequency. It’s very helpful for rewarding behaviors.”

“You’re trying to train me like a dog.” He wanted to sound angrier about it than he did, but he struggled to shake away the pleasantly fuzzy feeling.

“A bit crude of a comparison, but many of the same principles do apply.”

“I won’t cooperate. And you can’t punish me for non-cooperation if you’re asking me my honest opinions.”

“I can punish you, in fact. But if you’re referring to my threat against you seeing Matthew, don’t worry. As long as you respond to the questions as instructed, I will count it as cooperation. You’ll simply suffer some shocks if you’re stubborn about your responses.”

“Then go ahead and shock me. You’re not going to change my mind.”

“I should warn you that this is just the preliminary round. A demonstration and way of obtaining a baseline. As the rounds progress during the week, the shocks will progress in intensity. That means if you are responsive to the corrections I make early on, you can avoid any serious pain. But if you remain stubborn and unwilling to waver in your delusions, it could become rather excruciating.”

Will cringed, because he had a very strong feeling that “excruciating” was well within Hannibal’s abilities. “This is child abuse.”

“In what possible way? My rules are not arbitrary or my responses unpredictable. It’s entirely your choice. You can’t blame me for causing you harm when it’s fully within your power to avoid it, no more than you could blame me if you spontaneously started hitting your head against the wall. You are not a child and you understand perfectly well how your actions will have consequences. Am I making myself clear?”

Will had moved past fear straight into anger. “Fine,” he said. He could deal with a little pain.

He made it through the next hour through pure willpower, gritting his teeth as Hannibal gave him shock after shock. The pain wasn’t intense yet, but he was nervous about the coming days.

At an hour, Hannibal let him break for some water, though he wasn’t untied. He had to sip through a straw.

“Now I have some images for you to look at,” Hannibal announced. “And a couple brief videos. No questions, I will simply narrate aloud what is happening in each.”

He moved his chair closer to Will, pulled out an iPad, and turned the screen to face Will. Will blanched, fairly sure he knew what kind of images Hannibal had in mind.

And indeed, the first picture Hannibal showed him was a high-definition photo of an Alpha’s dick. Will wrinkled his nose and looked pointedly away, but Hannibal reached across the space between them and delivered a sharp slap. When Will looked back at him in shock, he said, “Your cooperation in this segment is judged by you continually looking at the images I present. If you close your eyes or look away, your privilege of seeing Matthew will be permanently revoked. Understood?”

Will swallowed and nodded, eyes moving reluctantly back to the image.

“This is an Alpha cock,” Hannibal said, sliding into a pleasant, measured voice, as if explaining zoo animals to a child. “Alpha cocks are designed to breed Omegas and satisfy their heats. Omegas are naturally attracted to Alpha cocks because they know they require an Alpha cock to have satisfying sexual experiences. When you have a heat, you will understand that an Alpha cock is all you want or need.”

There was a buzz against Will’s mating gland, and he shifted uneasily. Apparently he wasn’t going to be able to skip the reward portion of the treatment plan.

A photo collage was shown of an Omega in various submissive postures in front of an Alpha: kneeling at his feet, presenting for breeding, and literally barefoot and pregnant in a kitchen while its Alpha groped it from behind.

“This is an Omega in a fulfilling, natural relationship with an Alpha. It gets pleasure from serving its mate and carrying his children.” A dopamine-releasing buzz. “This will be you someday. You will dedicate your body and life to your Alpha mate and fulfill all your marital obligations, and you will be rewarded with love and security.” Buzz.

When he pulled up a video next, Will flinched. It was a generic Alpha/Omega porn video, the Omega’s ass tilted way up into the air and the Alpha mounting him like an animal. His mating gland was buzzed.

“This is an Alpha breeding an Omega. It is the natural position for them to be in, good for conception, and will bring the Omega the most pleasure. They are both fulfilling their instincts. When you are mated, this is how your mate will breed you.”

Next he flipped to a picture of an Omega’s genitals, and Will received an unpleasant zap.

“This is an Omega cocklet. It is a vestigial organ that is only about a quarter the size of an Alpha cock. It carries no seminal fluid and cannot harden adequately to penetrate someone. Therefore the Omega cocklet is useless for anything besides masturbatory purposes, and it cannot pleasure a partner. In many languages, in fact, instead of deriving from a term for ‘cock’ it derives from ‘clitoris’ because it is seen as closer to clitorises in size and function.”

He flipped to the next picture, and Will received another shock of electricity.

“This is an Omega cunt. It exists to be bred by Alphas and to deliver children. It is also the primary source of sexual pleasure for Omegas, and can only be properly stimulated by an Alpha’s cock and knot.”

A video appeared, this time of two Omegas in a 69, licking each other between the legs and making pretty little noises that would have turned him on under different circumstances. It was undercut by a shock of electricity a moment later.

“These two Omegas have perverted the natural order through their delusions. They are trying and failing to pleasure one another, and their only use is to serve as entertainment for Alphas.”

Will was getting angrier and angrier, even with the occasional buzz of dopamine working against it.

The Omegas in the video were interrupted by a burly Alpha who quickly revealed his oversized dick to the wide-eyed Omegas. Soon they were swarming him, competing to get their mouths on his dick, moaning indulgently. Gland buzz.

“Now that they’ve seen Alpha cock in person and tried it for themselves, they’ve realized how superior it is to their own efforts. They’re grateful to the Alpha who has taught them better.”

Then the Omegas were on their stomachs, presenting for the Alpha before getting reamed.

“They had selfishly denied Alphas access to their wombs, but are now feeling the natural urge to breed.”

When Will managed to wrestle free from the hormonal tide that the buzz released, he wasn’t sure he’d ever been angrier. He felt like he was choking on it, until he couldn’t even speak. If Hannibal had been closer to him, he would have bitten him and taken a chunk right out of his smug face.

But Hannibal might have realized it, because he sped through some images with a constant barrage of shocks and buzzes that made it impossible to sustain his emotions, and by the end he didn’t feel much more than exhaustion.

Then it was back to questions.

At the end of the day, Will was given some bland hospital food and locked in the room to sleep. He looked for any possible way to escape, because this was insane and he no longer cared how bad his prospects elsewhere would be if he did manage to run away. But he couldn’t find any way out. It was hopeless.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Non-con starts this chapter and continues for a couple more, hopefully by now you know what you're getting into.

Will slept badly. When a nurse brought him breakfast the next day, he made a dash through the door for freedom, but it didn’t take long for security to catch him and return him to his room. He was given a set of leg irons for his trouble, and although he could still walk around the room without difficulty, he couldn’t imagine trying to escape with them. By the time Hannibal arrived, he had little energy to fight being forced back into the chair, let alone to keep arguing with him, but he still tried to be as uncooperative as possible. As Hannibal had warned, the shocks started to get stronger, and Will began to question if continuing to give the ‘wrong’ answers was the best use of his remaining energy. Even if he decided to give the answers Hannibal wanted to hear, it wasn’t like it was actually going to change his opinions, right? It seemed like some bullshit pseudoscience. Maybe it wasn’t even meant to change his mind, maybe it was just meant to be demoralizing.

So he started to give some ‘correct’ answers, at least when they weren’t too nauseating to say out loud. It saved him some pain, at least, and maybe some energy. Whatever happened, it was clear he was going to need that this week.

He considered closing his eyes through the video segment. He knew that things with Matthew could never go back to how they were, and the privilege of supervised visits alone might not be worth this hell, but he remembered Hannibal’s threat to involve Matthews parents if it came to that. He couldn’t know for sure if Matthew’s parents would take the same psychotic steps his dad had, but Matthew had kept the relationship secret from them for a reason, and Will didn’t want to put him in jeopardy.

So he watched and listened and just tried to keep himself sane with an inner monologue that contradicted everything Dr. Lecter was saying.

His dad did visit him that evening, but all it got him was a shouting match. His last hope was that the doctor hadn’t told his dad everything he was going to do, and his dad would hear his story and realize it had gone too far and would put an end to it, but it became clear his dad knew exactly what was going to happen, and somehow still thought it was the right thing to do.

That hurt. With a string of obscenities, Will told him plainly not to show his face again unless it was to take him away from here.

When he had left, Will wanted so badly to break something, but the room was clearly designed with difficult patients in mind, and it proved frustratingly hard to destroy in a rage. Furniture secured to the wall or floor, sturdy materials, all drawers locked. The best he could do was throw his dinner tray at a wall and watch the peas scatter across the floor. It was a lot less satisfying than he had hoped, and when a nurse and security guard arrived to remove his leg irons for the night, he was ordered to clean it up himself anyway.

The third day at the clinic, Will woke up with slick soaking the sheet beneath him and realized he’d had a wet dream. It wasn’t very common for him, and it alarmed him that it happened now. He couldn’t even remember with any certainty what he’d been dreaming about, but the images Hannibal had been showing him still echoed in his mind, and he had an uneasy feeling it had something to do with one of them.

He changed immediately into clean clothes, and tried to hide his wet underwear under the blanket. The nurse who arrived with breakfast and leg irons didn’t comment, but being locked in a small room meant the scent lingered until Dr. Lecter arrived. The minute he stepped into the room his nose flared, and Will knew he could smell it. But he didn’t comment until his security backup finished locking Will into the chair and left the room.

“Enjoying your stay, Will?”

“You know I’m not.”

“I know that yesterday you remained obstinate and uncooperative, but you can still change the course of your treatment. The smell of slick suggests you’ve started to become aroused by the materials I’ve been showing you, and if that’s the case we could move on to more pleasant tactics.”

“Define ‘pleasant.’”

“Sexually pleasurable.”

“Unless your curriculum has suddenly changed and you’ve accepted I’m not sexually interested in Alphas, I doubt that.”

Hannibal sighed and stepped nearer to him, uncomfortably close. “This close-mindedness is what got you here in the first place. You set your mind on believing you are one thing, and refused to consider any evidence to the contrary. It’s not healthy.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

Hannibal looked amused. “If fucking is what you want, I can oblige. But I won’t be the one getting fucked, Will.”

Fear would have frozen him in place if he hadn’t already been bound and helpless just like he had been the day before. But this time it was worse. Because instead of just sticking some electrodes to his skin, Hannibal began to undress him.

“No!” Will shouted. “What are you doing?”

“Facilitating access,” Hannibal replied, while tugging at his pants until they were down to his ankles.

Will immediately crossed his legs, trying to cover his genitals. “Why do you want access?”

Hannibal just looked amused and slid his long fingers between the top of Will’s thighs, where the flesh was too soft to be an effective barrier. His hands were cold, and Will felt the exact moment his fingertips brushed against his cocklet, making him flinch. “As I said. We can move on to more pleasant tactics now, and for that I’ll need to expose your genitals.”

“Does my dad know you’re molesting me?”

“I’m not molesting you, Will, I’m treating you. And your father gave me permission to do whatever I felt was necessary to treat you, including sexual contact.”

“But you can’t… you can’t do anything more than just touch me, because that would make me less valuable to whoever he wants to sell me to. I’m still a virgin, in their eyes. You can’t do anything that would interfere with that.”

“Medical procedures can be accepted as an exemption, and having it classified as such is a simple enough bureaucratic obstacle to overcome. If necessary, of course.”

But Will knew, he knew from the hungry expression on Hannibal’s face as his eyes dragged down Will’s body to the crux of his thighs, he knew that Hannibal would do whatever he felt necessary to justify it.

He began to shiver as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice over his head.

“Don’t be afraid, Will. It will be scary at first, until you learn better. But you’ll learn what you’ve been missing, and you’ll come to long for the touch of an Alpha, just like every other healthy young Omega.”

“You’re going to rape me,” Will choked out.

“You’re awfully fixated on the act of penetration, for an Omega who claims to have no interest in Alphas. Your treatment need not include it, but the option is certainly there.”

“You’ve made up your mind,” Will argued. “It doesn’t matter what I do now, you _want_ to rape me.”

“It’s only rape if you resist. If you cooperate, it will simply be exposure therapy in a clinical environment. It can feel good. You can bare your throat and spread your legs for me, let yourself welcome an Alpha between your thighs. But you’ve already made up your mind. You’ve decided your feelings are unchangeable, and that I’m the enemy. You’re committed to resisting every step of the way.”

“Because you’re _wrong_.” His voice raised to a shout. “If you think I’m ever gonna want an asshole Alpha like you the way I want Matthew, you’re a fucking moron! How can you even call yourself a psychiatrist, you’re just a piece of shit –”

He was cut short by Hannibal slapping him so hard his ears rang.

“I am a respected professional in my field. You’re a naive little Omega who thinks he knows better than everyone else. You’re stubborn and impudent and I wouldn’t blame your future Alpha in the least if he has to beat you until you bleed to make you obedient. But unfortunately, that’s not my place. Your father hired me to fix your delusions, and that’s precisely what I’m going to do.”

Will didn’t answer, and they stared at each other for a long moment before Hannibal took a deep breath and exhaled. “Since you haven’t had any previous sexual encounters with Alphas, you’ve never had a first-hand experience that could contradict what you believe and confirm what I say, so I suppose I can’t blame you for your distrust.”

“My experience with Matthew was first hand. That proves I like Omegas.”

“Physical contact can feel good with anyone, it says nothing about your sexuality. It’s the intensity that will prove where you are meant to be. When you have experienced a true, powerful Alpha, any experience with an Omega will pale in comparison. That’s the simple truth.”

Will shook his head, but Dr. Lecter grabbed his chin and held him steady as he stared into his eyes.

“You were built to be dominated, fucked, and bred by an Alpha. That is not an opinion, it is a scientific fact. So if you’re to come to terms with that, now is the time for you to be introduced to your destiny.”

Will watched, horrified, as Dr. Lecter undid his pants and pulled out his dick. Will blanched seeing how big it was even when it was flaccid. He couldn’t imagine fitting that thing inside him when even a couple fingers felt like a stretch.

Hannibal stroked it slowly in front of his face. “How do you feel looking at my Alpha cock in person?”

“Uncomfortable,” Will said, mouth dry. “You’re going to make me touch it, aren’t you?”

“Yes. Hands-on experience is necessary at this point in your therapy. But first I just want you to concentrate on it. Its shape, its size. Its smell. Imagine touching it, imagine it inside you.”

Will stared, but it didn’t make him feel any better. “It’s too big,” he whispered. “It’s not going to fit.”

“Of course it will fit. Your vaginal walls are elastic, perfect for stretching around a knot. I could fit my whole fist inside you if I wanted to.”

“I heard it hurts the first time.” His voice was shaking, and he hated it. He didn’t want Hannibal to know exactly how scared he was right now.

“It can. Ideally, you would lose your virginity with a trusted partner in a comfortable space, and you could take your time, relax, and enjoy it. And the endorphins released by a mating bite can easily nullify painful penetration, so if you were saving yourself for marriage it would not be a concern. But you’re not. You refused to make things easy, and this is the path you have chosen.”

Will clenched his jaw, eyes still locked on the doctor’s length, which had swollen in size.

“Now…” Hannibal disappeared behind him for a moment, and he heard rummaging through a drawer. He reappeared with some gadget in his hands, which was forced between Will’s teeth before he even realized what was happening. Then he twisted some mechanism and Will’s mouth was forced wider open.

Will’s eyes grew huge and his heart froze in his chest. He made a noise of protest.

“I’m afraid this is necessary, Will. Your mouth is the best place to begin exposure therapy, and nothing about your behavior up to this point has led me to believe you will be cooperative in taking me into your mouth, unless it’s to bite me. And I won’t have that.”

He used a lever Will hadn’t noticed to recline the chair, until Will’s head was at the right level so he could straddle Will and bring his cock near his lips. Will’s jaw was kept wide open, he couldn’t move it a millimeter. He could do nothing as Hannibal brushed against his lips with the head of his cock. Will felt himself gag, and it wasn’t even in yet. But it smelled so _Alpha_ it made him sick.

Will kept wrestling with the mechanism in his mouth, but it just drew up more spit, which spilled from his open mouth.

“What a good Omega,” Hannibal said in a painfully patronizing tone. “Look at you, already drooling at the sight of an Alpha cock, like a good little cock drunk whore. It smells good, doesn’t it? You want so badly to taste it.”

Will made as angry a noise as he could with his mouth held wide open, and tried to force out through sheer will a garbled “fuck you.”

“What’s that? Hurry up? So greedy.” He tutted. “But I’ll be nice and let you have a taste.”

He pushed it into Will’s mouth, and Will’s tongue tried to pull away from it but it was impossible. He wished he could just swallow his own tongue, because any attempt to evade the intruder just made it move against Hannibal’s dick. And now he could taste it, and it wasn’t any better than it had smelled.

It neared the back of his throat, and he retched. But Hannibal still went deeper. Soon, he had himself lodged in Will’s throat, only for a short while, but it made Will’s throat spasm and his eyes tear up.

“Beautiful,” Hannibal murmured above him. He pulled back and Will forced a breath through his nostrils.

But then he was deep again. Again and again, seemingly uncaring how much Will gagged or sputtered, keeping up a rhythm that penetrated into Will’s throat.

“You might not enjoy it now,” Hannibal said. “But you will eventually. Your gag reflex will weaken quickly, because Omegas were made for this. Many find it one of the most arousing experiences possible.”

He forced himself into Will’s clenching throat, and Will squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like he had no control over his own body – jaw spread too wide and unable to move, tongue too thick and active no matter what he did, gag reflex beyond him, tears unstoppable, arms and legs twitching in distress, the broken noises and coughs feeling like they came from someone else.

It seemed like an eternity until Dr. Lecter was finally done. He came with a grunt and stroked his cock rapidly, milking the bitter semen into Will’s open mouth. With his mouth still held open, Will couldn’t gather it up and spit it out, and when Hannibal tilted his head further back he had no choice but to let it run down his throat.

He was sobbing in earnest now. Hannibal patted him on his wet cheek.

“The sooner you let go of your lies about your sexuality, the sooner you can begin to enjoy our sessions and become a normal Omega. But if this isn’t working for you yet…”

How could he make it _worse_?

He walked behind Will again to get something, and returned with a pink egg-shaped ball, which he stuck between Will’s thighs, nested against the underside of his cocklet and the lips of his pussy. He also replaced the buzzer against his mating gland.

He set up a screen on the wall, and soon it was showing clips: reels of naked Alphas and their cocks, and video of Omegas being pinned down and brutally mounted by snarling Alphas. Hannibal also placed headphones over his ears that relayed all too realistic sounds of Alpha courtship purrs and growls and mating grunts, making his skin prickle uncomfortably. Then after the expected buzz of the mating gland, the egg between his legs began buzzing, and he jerked in place.

It was perfectly situated to stimulate him, and he already knew without a doubt that if it continued for any length of time, it was going to make him cum.

And he did. Again and again, to the soundtrack of Alpha sex noises, until he was whining from overstimulation and Hannibal gave him a reprieve.

The reprieve was such a relief that he didn’t even complain when Hannibal sank his cock deep into his throat again and buzzed his mating gland for a change. It was almost a welcome respite. At least, until he started gagging again.

As soon as Hannibal finished, he resumed the video and sound recordings and the vibrations resumed.

Then stop. Repeat.

He only stopped for lunch. Then a loop of a voice repeating some of the bullshit he’d been telling Will… Omegas are born to be fucked by Alphas, only Alphas can satisfy an Omega…

Then he raped Will’s throat again, but this time with the vibrating egg getting him off. It was humiliating, having his mouth spread open and his throat pounded with moans of ecstasy escaping him between the gurgles and coughs.

Pause. Brainwashing mantras. Mouth rape, forced orgasm. Repeat.

By the end he was sore and exhausted and emotionally numb. He didn’t have the energy for another outburst that night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra warning for a panic attack this chapter.

That night, Will dreamed an Alpha mounted him and raped him with a cock as thick as his leg, while Dr. Lecter filmed it and told Will this was his destiny.

He woke up with his underwear again soaked through with slick, and had to fight back tears. He was bewildered and mortified. He hadn’t thought for a second that the treatment could actually change him, but it wasn’t normal for him to slick this much overnight, and two nights in a row didn’t sound like a coincidence. Did this mean it was actually working? Was Dr. Lecter going to really turn him into some desperate slut for Alphas?

He protested with even more desperation when the doctor appeared that day. He was scared and was sure Hannibal would eventually get tired of raping his mouth and move on to something worse. He was dangling that inevitability in front of Will, making him more and more anxious the longer he had to wait. Maybe that was the point.

Hannibal dropped the pretense of videos. Today was just Will being throat-fucked and forced to swallow his cum while the egg vibrator buzzed away and forced him through one humiliating orgasm after another. He started to lose touch with reality, just drifting like he wasn’t even piloting his own body. Since he couldn’t move an inch, it didn’t seem like there was any point anyway.

Then he started to get sweatier. He started to gush enough slick that he felt it pooling beneath him. And instead of _too much_ the vibration was _not enough_. He felt a deep-seated ache that he hadn’t felt since…

Since his last heat.

He refused to believe it. His body was just being thrown off by the bizarre circumstances. But then, after a fitful lunch break where he ate practically nothing, Hannibal leaned in close to sniff him.

“You’re entering heat, Will,” he said.

“No! No, I can’t be,” he said desperately. “I’m… I’m on heat suppressants.”

“Suppressants can occasionally be overwhelmed by hormones resulting from unusual circumstances. That must be the case here, because what I’m smelling is definitely heat. In a few hours, even you won’t be able to deny it.”

Will’s horror must have been obvious.

“Don’t worry, Will. This is excellent news. Your body is responding positively to the scent and taste of an Alpha, possibly even responding to hormones in my cum. That’s probably what shocked it out of its heatless slumber – you deprived it of what it needed, made it desperate, and now it’s waking up, so relieved to finally be in the presence of an Alpha. It wants to make sure you seize this opportunity and accept your true nature.”

“You’re lying.”

“Think, Will. Since coming here for your education, have you been having sexual dreams more often? You seemed very taken aback by your first wet dream, so I assume it’s not standard for you.” Will’s wide-eyed silence was enough of an answer. “I thought so. That’s a clear sign that you are at least subconsciously accepting and processing your sexual desire for Alphas. You said you’ve dreamed of Omegas before, but by now I’m guessing it’s switched to Alphas, hasn’t it? Have you dreamed of being bred?”

Will shook his head wildly.

“Just a matter of time.” Hannibal stared at him very intently before adding, “Breeding is how they used to deal with Omega same-gender attraction in older days. Once your body is fully fulfilling its biological purpose, there is no more denying what you need. There’s no greater joy in an Omega’s life than being fucked full and given a child to bear. Sometimes the offending Omega was simply locked into a public pillory and used by a crowd of strangers until its spirit broke and it could become a good servant for its mate. You should be grateful I’m taking a more considerate approach.”

Will cringed. He had no doubt that Hannibal wouldn’t protest such a method, if it was considered acceptable by modern society and greenlit by his father.

Hannibal walked over to the wall and hit a buzzer, and spoke into the intercom. “I’m requesting assistance in room 5A; the patient is entering heat and will require appropriate restraints.”

Will was distracted from his thoughts. “What kind of restraints?” His voice cracked with nerves.

“Restraints that will keep your cunt open and available so you cannot attempt to resist.”

Will felt himself growing fuzzier, stumbling toward a heat daze. He felt like he should make a response, but none came to him. Instead he sat silently and trembled as a few nurses entered the room with a bundle of straps and what looked like bedding. One stripped the covers off his mattress and lay down what he assumed was a more slick-proof material, the other set up the restraints.

He was blurry by the time they dragged him over to his bed. When they put him in some kind of handcuffs, he was too disoriented to fight. They placed him facedown on the bed and tied his legs far apart from each other, and all he could think was how it made him feel even more hollow.

But he still knew from the smell in the air, the sharp heavy musk of a highly aroused Alpha, that he did not want to be here. He felt a nudge between his legs and tried to imagine it was Matthew’s hand or a dildo, but it was too warm to be a dildo and too thick to be fingers. The last of the fantasy faded away when an Alpha growl filled the air, and he knew with sinking certainty that it was Hannibal’s cock pressing between his folds. It hit resistance, and even half-drowning in heat Will was scared. Omega hymens had a reputation for being less fragile and easily worn down than women’s. That’s one of the reasons Omegas were considered valuable, because their hymens were a more accurate gauge of virginity. Will had started to wonder if he might always have that virginity, if he never had a desire for penetration or a partner capable of penetrating him with more than fingers. To have his hymen broken now was an additional violation that stung as it took away another part of his identity.

And yes, when Hannibal pushed against the resistance it _hurt._ Will howled and his legs jerked and strained at the restraints, but Hannibal didn’t care, of course. He pulled back and thrust in even harder, and it punched through with searing pain like he was stabbing him with a hot poker.

Then he bottomed out, hitting right against what must have been his cervix, because that pain was much further inside him. But it wasn’t just pain, but something that made his toes curl, and he voiced an embarrassingly pathetic moan, followed by an incensed “ _fuck,_ fuck you.” It was answered by a deep, throaty chuckle in his ear that was undeniably Alpha and made his skin crawl.

The doctor pulled all the way out and slammed back into him, jolting Will’s entire body. His voice cracked as he cried out, and it became harder and harder to fill his lungs with air. It felt like Hannibal was punching it out of him with every thrust, and he was starting to hyperventilate, making his whole world spin.

It wasn’t the pain that was getting to him, because that seemed to fade more and more. The problem was it was being replaced by physical pleasure. Of course it was, because it was a heat and his body couldn’t help responding that way when touched.

But in the moment, it was capsizing his certainty, because despite the pain and the horror and all his protests, it did feel good in a way he hadn’t experienced before from just his cocklet. It was probably just the haze of heat, but it struck him squarely and left him squirming and breathless. Even if he hadn’t been restrained, he didn’t think he could have brought himself to fight to get away.

But knowing that, and being so overwhelmed with sensation, made him feel absolutely awful. There wasn’t enough air, and not enough space inside him when his guts were being railed open, and Hannibal was so big and heavy, crushing him down, suffocating him with his disgusting body. The feeling swept suddenly from a mere awareness to utter panic. He was trapped, completely helpless, he was going to be raped through his heat by an awful man and there wasn’t anything he could do. He felt like the world was collapsing around him and he gasped for air. An ugly sob broke free from him, and he tried to wrap his mouth around words and pleas, but his throat was choked, nothing more came, so he could only shout them in the bleak echoing chamber of his skull: _No please stop STOP._

But if Dr. Lecter had noticed he was now wracked with sobs, he gave no sign of caring.

Hannibal had felt triumphant from the moment he finally had the boy tied spread open in front of him and leaking heat slick. He dismissed the nurses who had brought the restraints and had to resist the very great temptation to bury his face in Will’s sweet ripe cunt. But oral pleasure was not on the agenda for today – nothing but Alpha cock for the naughty young Omega, not until he learned his lesson.

He put on a condom with some reluctance, because he wanted nothing more than to fill up the young Omega with his cum until he was dripping, but pregnancy was not permitted today. But even with this restriction, there were truly few pleasures greater than grasping the hips of a heat-drunk virgin Omega and thrusting against the resistance of a hymen until it split open and allowed the Alpha to penetrate untouched lands. The Omega’s accompanying yowl of pain didn’t rob him of this satisfaction. As a sadist, it was a bonus, and a reminder of his own power in conquering the young Omega.

The pain was beautiful, but even more beautiful was the moan of unwilling pleasure that came not long after, which was punctuated with obscenity when Will realized what he’d done.

Hannibal laughed, then focused on taking his pleasure. Words could wait until later. There was only one opportunity to take his virginity, after all.

It wasn’t long before Will started to hyperventilate and twitch beneath him, obviously having an anxiety attack. He clenched hard around Hannibal as he sobbed and gasped desperately, and Hannibal grunted at the extra tightness around his cock. He slowed his pace, not wanting to knot too quickly, and instead grasped the nape of Will’s neck, a natural pressure point that didn’t stop him from hyperventilating, but made him go a bit more limp beneath him. It was frankly fascinating to see an Omega who was so persistently repulsed by an Alpha even in heat.

“That’s it,” Hannibal said, his voice gruff. “Settle down, no need for such dramatics. You’ll feel so much better soon. As soon as I knot you, you’ll be halfway to cured. You’ll realize you were mistaken, and there is nothing wrong with accepting your natural place knotted on an Alpha cock being filled and bred.”

“I d-don’t _w-want_ it,” Will whined. “I… I… please. P-please st-stop.” His words were barely intelligible, closer to sobs than speech. His slender body squirmed beneath Hannibal, torn between heat instincts and his conscious repulsion.

Hannibal sighed and kneaded the nape of Will’s neck, making him moan. “You think you can just decide what you want and ignore reality. But I won’t let you do that to yourself, Will. This is for your own good.”

He punctuated the statement with a sharp jerk of his hips that punched into Will’s cervix and the boy yelped and then started twitching and gasping into an orgasm. Hannibal ground into his ass, drawing out the orgasm and purring, growling “Good boy” into his ear.

When the orgasm faded and Will was left just shivering, Hannibal said, “See? You can’t blame that one on a vibrator. That was all you, just your body’s purest response to being filled by an Alpha.”

“I h-hate you.”

“But I’m right. I want you to remember this moment, Will. Every heat from now on, I want you to remember the moment your body gave in and submitted to an Alpha and you realized how wrong you are. The moment you finally lost this battle against me and your nature.”

He didn’t wait for a response, because the tightness of Will was becoming torturous. He didn’t have time for a conversation, he needed to _take_. Hannibal snapped his hips quickly, the knot at the base of his cock beginning to grow, dragging harder and harder as he worked his way in and out. Will made garbled noises and went tense and whimpering into another orgasm, his body surely feeling the start of a knot and growing very excited. The contractions of his cunt seized Hannibal, and with one final beastly growl, the Alpha struck deep and popped his knot, coming hard.

Will made a beautiful defeated whimper, and Hannibal draped himself over his body, letting Will carry his weight. It was a customary knotting position, since most Omegas found the weight of an Alpha soothing, but he suspected this one would find it suffocating. His cunt didn’t care, though, it milked Hannibal’s knot with renewed vigor.

“Isn’t that so much better?” Hannibal asked him. “It sates your heat, doesn’t it? It feels amazing. This is what you needed all along, when you were so confused.”

Will was trembling and flushed. He didn’t seem able to admit the ecstasy he felt at being knotted, but Hannibal could see it radiating from him.

“Yes, I thought so,” Hannibal said, even without a spoken reply. “You may not be completely convinced to abandon your previous identity, but you can no longer say you do not see the appeal of Alphas. You know better now, don’t you?”

Will tried to turn his face against the mattress to hide, but Hannibal tugged him up by the hair just enough to see tears rolling from his reddened eyes. Hannibal stroked his wet cheek with his thumb. He let Will bury his face in the mattress again, but said into his ear, “I know it must be upsetting to realize you were wrong. You invested so much of yourself in the lie, and it’s embarrassing to admit. But all that matters now is that you learn to accept the truth. And I’ll be here with you for the rest of your heat to help you.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra squick warning for ass to mouth. Last hospital chapter.

Since Hannibal was not in rut, he had a refractory period to deal with, and he chose to leave Will unstimulated during that time, hoping that it would enforce the importance of knots even more. Will was mostly quiet in between sessions, just squirming and occasionally sniffling.

When Hannibal next fucked him, he made sure to send Will through as many orgasms as possible while fucking him as roughly as possible. Then he planned something special. He left Will alone for a longer period, and the boy was soon whimpering and restless from the lack of stimulation but too stubborn to ask for what he wanted.

After a particularly loud whine, Hannibal asked, “Do you need something, Will?”

“Just leave me alone,” Will mumbled into the mattress.

“No, I doubt you need to be left alone. Are you sure there’s nothing you need from me?”

Will shook his head, though he groaned in frustration.

Hannibal stood up and walked behind Will, where he dragged his fingers through the slick dripping from the boy’s cunt. Despite his reluctance to ask for it, Will made an unmistakably pleasured noise and thrust his hips back at him. He would be disappointed.

Instead of fingering him like he expected, Hannibal dragged the slick upward and thrust a finger into the tight ring of Will’s ass, sliding in easily from the natural lubricant.

“Wha–”

He fit another finger, though it was tighter.

“Dr. Lecter, that’s not…”

“Not what, Will?” He pumped his fingers in and out, letting the muscles adjust and loosen.

“Not where you’re supposed to be. I’m in heat, that’s not what I need, it’s not my… my…”

“Your cunt?” Hannibal finished for him. “Correct. But you said there was nothing you needed from me, so I’m assuming you don’t need me in your cunt at the moment, which would make my assistance there rather pointless.”

“But… then why are you…”

“I’m going to fuck your ass, Will, because I want to. The hormones you are releasing in heat are incredibly arousing, and I would rather use your ass instead of your mouth or cunt, for a change. And it’s important that you understand that an Alpha’s desires and pleasures are more important than your own, and your body is always subject to an Alpha’s whims, even when you are a needy thing in heat.”

He twisted and tugged his fingers inside Will’s body, loosening him to prevent causing actual damage, while Will squirmed beneath him, obviously frustrated and trying to get attention where it really mattered. Anal sex would cause some indirect stimulation, pressure felt through the wall of the vagina, but it would be more torture than pleasure in heat. He didn’t choose this approach because he was a sadist, but because he needed Will to be needy and desperate enough to beg for relief, which he was still refusing to do.

He would give him a taste though, to make sure he was reminded what he was missing.

Once Will was already squirming, Hannibal fit his bare cock against his sloppy cunt and pushed in long and slow, and Will moaned wantonly, the sound of an Omega too long denied. But Hannibal didn’t give him the luxury of a second thrust where he wanted it, and instead pulled out his cock, now lubricated with Will’s juices, and pushed it into Will’s ass.

Will was distracted by the embarrassingly loud moan he made, and didn’t immediately notice when Hannibal repositioned his cock. But he noticed the burn when he pushed in and stretched his asshole wide open. But the burn didn’t bother him as much as the fact that it was _so close_ to where he needed it to be, but it wasn’t satisfying him. He could feel the pressure inside him teasing at the place where he really wanted him to be, like hearing a muffled noise through a layer of insulation. He felt too full and too empty at the same time, and he cried out with frustration. He found himself on the verge of begging, and he clenched his jaw shut.

Hannibal rumbled in pleasure as he dove deep into Will. “It was so considerate of you to dismiss your desires so that an Alpha could serve his needs before your own. I do appreciate it, Omega.”

He thrust in deep and Will whined long and loud. He literally bit his tongue to stop a “please” from slipping out. But Hannibal somehow still knew. He paused for the span of a few breaths.

“You seem even more aroused now, Will, even though I’m not fulfilling your heat. That’s excellent progress, it means you’re becoming aroused simply by the act of pleasuring an Alpha, regardless of your own pleasure.”

No… that couldn’t be why, could it? It was just because he was so close… so close but in the wrong place, it was teasing him. It almost hurt.

His balls slapped against Will’s cunt when he thrust in hard. He moaned, the brief stimulation just teasing him even more.

Then Hannibal pulled out and flipped him over. It took him a minute to realize why, then he saw how Hannibal stared between his legs while keeping them up and spread, hands gripping behind his knees. His pussy lips gaped open and wet and unsatisfied above the place where Hannibal disappeared into his body, they fluttered uselessly with need. When he pushed in now, Will could even see the glisten of fresh slick pushed out of his cunt, Hannibal’s eyes locked onto it, and he realized he’d reached a new level of humiliation. Every throb of want was on display, his wet red cunt totally exposed.

“Beautiful,” Hannibal growled. “You’re turning into such a good little Omega whore for me, forgotten all about how you supposedly _loathe_ cock. I can see how you’re dripping for me, I can see you clenching with desire to have me fill up your pretty little pussy and breed you.”

Will’s vision blurred. He was crying again. “Please,” he whined.

“Changed your mind about needing something?” Hannibal flicked his fingers over Will’s nipples and Will nearly jolted out of his skin. “You won’t get it unless you ask nicely. Can you ask?”

Will shook his head, but Hannibal fucked in at an angle that nudged right against his womb and he yelped. “Please!”

“Specific, Will.” Hannibal abandoned his vantage point of Will’s pussy and leaned in close, close enough to feel his breath. “Tell me what and where.”

He brushed against Will’s nipples, teased along his bonding gland, and fucked him long and deep until Will felt a new stretch.

“I’ll be knotting your ass soon, Will. If you need me to fill your cunt, you need to ask.”

The thought of Hannibal knotting his ass instead of his cunt was outright torture. “P-please knot my c-cunt, Hannibal! P-please, I _need_ it, in my cunt, _please_.”

“Good boy. I know you need it,” Hannibal murmured. “You need it so badly it hurts, don’t you? Every instinct and urge focused on that one goal, your body designed perfectly for an Alpha knot.”

Will nodded frantically, beyond caring. “Please!”

“It will have to wait, Will. Switching from your ass to your cunt now, without washing between, can lead to unfortunate infections. And I don’t have time for washing. You wanted me to prioritize my own needs, and that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“Fuck you!” Will screamed. “Hannibal, please! You said if I begged…”

“I said you wouldn’t get it without begging; I never promised you _would_ get it if you did beg. You must understand consequences.”

“You fucking piece of shit. You motherfucking—”

Hannibal growled and withdrew from his ass. Then lightning fast he crawled up Will’s body to straddle his face, and shoved his cock into Will’s screaming wide mouth.

Will’s eyes went wide, and he gagged. He’d thought Hannibal’s cock was disgusting enough already, but he was wrong. This was much worse, the taste of ass still fresh and lingering.

Hannibal grunted and humped his face, hands grasping Will’s skull so hard it hurt. His cock spread Will’s mouth so wide already, and then his knot popped and Will’s jaw clicked and he gave a muffled scream, and cum poured down the back of his throat so fast he nearly choked on it.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe, but he didn’t pass out. Unfortunately. His heat was still painfully unfulfilled and he was gagging on the most disgusting cock ever. His jaw _hurt_ but it felt like biting down would make it hurt worse.

“I’ve warned you about language, Will.” Hannibal rocked slowly against his face, moving just enough to be felt at the back of his throat and make him gag again. “This is technically risky sexual behavior as well, but at least I can say it was therapeutically justified. It won’t do to have you speak to your Alpha in such a way.”

Will’s vision swam with tears. His heart pounded severely with the feeling he could suffocate at any minute.

“This is what your mouth is for, Will. It was made to pleasure and choke on Alphas, not to whine and shout obscenities. It is your duty as an Omega to swallow and service Alphas no matter how unpleasant you may find it. Is that clear?”

Uncaring that Will was completely unable to respond, he continued.

“This has been an important lesson: an Alpha’s pleasure is more important than your own. It is their right to use you as they wish, regardless of your comfort or needs, and they will do so. Some enjoy this order of events on general principle. It amuses them, and if that’s the case with your future Alpha you’ll find yourself tasting your own passage regularly. You can do nothing to stop it, and you are forbidden from trying.”

When Hannibal’s knot finally went down, Will retched, but nothing came up. He didn’t talk back. He committed himself to staying as silent as possible for the rest of his heat. His mouth had betrayed him, it disgusted him to think of the things Hannibal had made him say.

He’d been so sure he’d never want anything an Alpha had to give him, and now he was just like those Omegas in the porn videos, and Hannibal didn’t let him forget it.

The next time, Hannibal ordered him to present in a traditional Omega position with no restraints forcing him, and though he hesitated and glared, Will obeyed, scared of worse humiliation.

Hannibal fucked him and cooed poisonous words in his ears about his desire to be bred, praise for his obedience, nasty dirty talk and more bullshit. Will ignored it as best as he could, but he couldn’t ignore the blinding pleasure from when he was finally knotted properly in his cunt. It left him in tears, and he couldn’t tell anymore if it was from despair, pleasure, or relief.

Hannibal continued to test him, making Will do the work to fuck himself back on Hannibal’s cock.

“Show me how much you want this Alpha cock, Will,” he said while just barely dipping the tip of his cock into Will’s pussy. “Ride it, show me how badly you need it.”

Will was too exhausted to try to fight it. He slowly dragged his body forwards and backwards in jerky motions, fucking himself back on Hannibal’s cock. He didn’t talk back, and Hannibal continued his narration.

“See how easy it is to follow instinct, Will?”

He grew to hate the slick slap of flesh against flesh.

“Hard to believe you denied this was in your nature, isn’t it? You’re a natural whore for Alphas.”

His thighs burned, but he couldn’t stop. His heat sapped his willpower and Hannibal had gotten too firm a handhold.

“No one who saw you like this would believe your lies about your sexuality, not even for a second. They’d know what you really were.”

Will flinched. He couldn’t think about his friends and teachers seeing him like this. Hannibal was right, they’d just see a normal young Omega bitch. They’d think Will was lying about his sexuality to get attention. He hadn’t lied, at least he didn’t think he had. But if this Alpha was fucking his brains out and it felt good and he was asking for it, did that mean he was wrong?

“Just think how much better this will be once your true prize awaits you: the promise of being bred. That excites you now, doesn’t it? Your womb craves it so badly. That’s what every inch of your body tells you in heat, that you are ripe and ready to breed and _need_ to breed. Imagine it and you’ll cum even faster, Will. Right now, imagine me filling you and putting a baby in you. Imagine it filling your belly and making your body and breasts grow, turning you into what you were always meant to be.”

He couldn’t not imagine it, his heat controlling too much of his brain. He was horrified to find Hannibal was right and he came again almost immediately. Hannibal moaned as he tightened up, but still did not move. When his orgasm faded and his heat demanded more, Will started seesawing back and forth on his cock again, until he finally got that knot.

Then it was a blur. It was a heat with an Alpha. It was what it was.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and we're back with more manipulative bullshit.

When Will’s heat finally ended, he felt sore and used and disgusting. Hannibal had left, which seemed like a mercy but made Will feel all the more like he’d just been discarded like trash. A nurse guided him to a shower and it wasn’t enough. Will didn’t think he’d ever be able to scrub the Alpha smell off of him, and getting back to the outside world felt bizarre and shameful, like everyone would know just by smelling or looking at him what had happened.

He couldn’t speak with his father without flying into a rage, and as he tried to return to his life he’d sometimes find himself on the verge of tears even if he wasn’t thinking about everything. But even worse, he couldn’t bring himself to speak to Matthew. He almost felt ashamed, as if he’d cheated, which was stupid. He hadn’t decided to fuck someone else, none of it was his fault, he was just raped. He didn’t want it.

But he struggled with that, because it didn’t feel sincere to tell him he was raped and pretend nothing else had happened. He’d come on Hannibal’s cock again, and again, and again, until he’d lost track of how many times. He’d begged Hannibal to knot him. He could still hear his whining, pathetic voice in his head, crying _please, please, please_.

It had started as rape, but was it still rape when he asked for it? He didn’t know. He’d always heard rape talked about like it was just bad and awful and painful all the way through, and that wasn’t what had happened. He hadn’t even come that hard when he was with Matthew, and that made him feel sick.

Telling Matthew he was raped would just make them both feel bad. Telling the whole truth would be even worse. So Will didn’t tell him. He didn’t talk. He didn’t take Matthew’s calls at all.

At least now Will’s dad was willing to believe Will when he said he didn’t want to see Matthew again, clearly assuming the treatment had worked. He had the fucking gall to even look happy about it. But it kept him off Will’s back, and he was even willing to give Will back phone privileges again.

Eventually, knowing Matthew would never believe his dad if he said Will didn’t want to see him again, and wouldn’t believe texts were really Will speaking, and would probably try to launch a full prison break eventually, he called when he knew Matthew would be in class, and left a message on voicemail. As briefly as possible he explained it wasn’t a good idea for them to keep seeing each other, they’d both get hurt, and it was better for him to just cooperate and get married like his dad wanted.

Matt tried to call him back, but Will blocked his number. He couldn’t be tempted, couldn’t stand it. He was on his own now.

He had enough to deal with, anyway. Memories from his stay at the hospital kept rising and trying to swallow him up, and he couldn’t let them. It felt dangerous to go near them, but he couldn’t quite figure out if it was the assault or his own feelings that scared him more.

He’d been so sure he would never want an Alpha, not even for a minute. He’d told Matthew that. He’d told Hannibal. But during that heat, he’d wanted it so badly he’d actually begged. He could say it was just his heat speaking, and yeah, that _must_ be what it was, but it still went against his expectations for himself. He felt like he’d been wrong about _something_ , made some miscalculation, but he didn’t know what.

_What if Hannibal was right?_

It was an intrusive thought, shoving its way in no matter how he mentally shouted in denial and listed all the reasons that couldn’t be true. He’d felt so sick, so upset, so awful. It was torture.

 _But what about those orgasms?_ whispered that horrible little part of his brain. _What if he was right after all?_

He figured if he tried to block the whole thing from his mind, he wouldn’t have to deal with it. Except that was hard when he knew his dad’s next goal after therapy was to find Will a mate, and then Will had to wonder what that would be like, and if it would be anything like it was with Dr. Lecter. Was he really going to be doomed to a miserable life being raped by an Alpha and forced to bear his children? Would he just get used to it, until the sex was something he could tolerate, if not enjoy? Or would it be like _that_ , was he going to start to _like_ it? And what was worse?

His plan to do his best to pretend nothing had happened was upended when his dad told him his therapy wasn’t over, after all – he was supposed to return for some wrap-up sessions.

Will’s immediate response was a vehement flat refusal. Fuck no, he’d done enough, he didn’t even want to think of Hannibal Lecter’s face ever again.

He expected argument. Instead, his dad sighed and nodded. “Dr. Lecter says some Omegas need an adjustment period after the in-patient treatment. He says if they’re emotionally fragile, they can find it stressful to talk with the Alpha who treated them, and…”

“I’m not fucking _emotionally fragile_!”

“Settle down, kid. I’m just saying if you _are_ , Dr. Lecter is willing to refer you to another psychiatrist to check in and see where you’re at after the treatment. If you’re not, there’s no problem seeing Dr. Lecter again, is there? It’s just a few talk sessions, just like you had before. No big deal.”

Will knew it was a terrible idea. He should just take the referral and go see someone who didn’t make him feel sick to his stomach, even if it meant he’d have to explain everything all over again to someone no more sympathetic. But he was stubborn, and he couldn’t let the doctor just walk away from this thinking he’d broken Will and left him cowering. Will felt like he’d broken _something_ inside him, but he could deal with it. He could deal with the stress of talking to Hannibal again, and he’d prove he wasn’t weak and could still stand up to him.

So without even thinking it through all the way, he said, “Fine. Whatever the doctor ordered.”

The day he was scheduled for his next appointment, he regretted agreeing. On the way there he wondered if he might actually throw up before he’d even walked in the door, but he couldn’t let himself back down now.

He tried to build up as much anger as he could before entering the office, enough to drown out the fear. He didn’t want to give Hannibal the satisfaction of smelling it on him.

He didn’t think he succeeded. He saw Hannibal’s nose flare and his head tilt.

“You’re not pleased to see me.”

“That’s a fucking understatement.” He didn’t sit down in his usual chair and instead stood behind it, hands clenched on the back of it. He didn’t think Hannibal would try to touch him again, not if it wasn’t on the treatment plan and it could hurt his professional reputation, but he felt less vulnerable this way. And at least half his body was protected from Hannibal’s invasive stare. Hannibal meanwhile looked as calm and comfortable as ever, as if nothing at all had happened between them, and that made him furious.

“And yet you still agreed to finish your therapy with me, rather than taking a referral.”

“I didn’t want you to think you’d won.”

“How would you define ‘winning’ in this context?”

“How would you?”

“I wouldn’t frame it as a game that can be won or lost. There are several ways to judge the success of a treatment, and it can be considered successful even if the result is not perfect.”

“Do you really care that much about a clinical assessment? I think for you there’s just things that satisfy you, and things that don’t.”

“If I just cared about being _satisfied_ …” Hannibal smiled, not pleasantly. “I would have no need for the pleasantries of these wrap-up sessions, because I already thoroughly satisfied myself by using you during your heat.”

Will flinched and felt a sudden wave of nausea. The fucking nerve, gloating over him, reminding him that his utter violation had given Hannibal endless pleasure. Reminding him how he was _used_ and discarded. He didn’t answer.

“See,” Hannibal said. “You put on a brave face, but you’re not as well fortified as you’d like me to believe. You can’t quite bear to confront those memories, and left on your own I’m sure you’d do your best to repress everything that happened. It wouldn’t work, but you’d try. The connections and associations are already made, and by ignoring what you’ve learned you will only feel conflicted and unhappy.”

Will fought to get his voice back. “And you seriously think you can make me feel _happy_ about what you did to me?”

“I can try. At the very least, don’t you owe it to yourself to attempt that confrontation? Or are you too scared to talk about it, after all?”

Will knew Hannibal was provoking him. He felt cornered. But it didn’t make a difference. If he walked away now, he’d feel like Hannibal was right, and he couldn’t bear that.

He clenched his jaw. “Go ahead. Try me.”

“Would you like to sit down to discuss? You might be more comfortable.”

“I won’t be. Just ask your questions.”

“Suit yourself. Let’s start with something simple, then. When you remember your heat, what is the first thing that comes to mind?”

Will’s mind flickered back to the heat as briefly as he could manage. “There’s a lot that comes to mind, but I guess feeling overwhelmed is the main thing. Feeling like everything was too much and I couldn’t even breathe.”

Hannibal nodded. “Feeling overwhelmed is a very normal heat experience, regardless of who you are with at the time. I’m sure you still remember how overwhelming your first heat was.”

“Yeah, but that was different. Then it was overwhelming because I had all the heat symptoms and I couldn’t do anything to make them go away. It wasn’t as bad as this last one, but my dad didn’t let me have a dildo or anything, so it was frustrating.”

“So your experiences reflect that without an Alpha, your heat was unfulfilling.”

“I mean, it was unfulfilling, sure, but at least it wasn’t so _upsetting_.”

“Really? In your first heat, did you not beg and sob for relief?”

“I…” He had. It wasn’t pleasant. “I didn’t cry _afterwards_ at least. It only bothered me during the heat, afterwards I was totally fine. I wasn’t traumatized until the heat with you.”

“When you say you’re traumatized, what do you mean? Can you describe the symptoms?”

“Besides the obvious?” He shrugged, reluctant to give Hannibal the satisfaction of knowing the details of what he’d caused – that he cried too easily, got nightmares, had that horrible nausea when confronting him again. “I feel awful. It’s like you clawed a hole in my life and derailed the whole thing, but no one else can see, and I can’t get patch it up or get things back how they were before. Like even though I’m not in that hospital anymore, it feels like it’s still happening to me I can’t get away from it.”

“That’s a very natural response to the situation. I carved a hole in your conceptions of who you are and where you belong in the world. That’s the cause of that disruption. One of the reasons you’re here now is so I can help you patch up those holes.”

“My conceptions. So you’re still blaming all of this on me. I only feel bad because I won’t let myself feel good, all that bullshit?”

“The shame you are feeling is certainly not coming from anyone other than you. From my perspective, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Neither your father nor I believe there was anything at all bad or shameful about your response to the therapy. Everything was outside of your control. It came down to biological responses, not some innate personal failure. The only one still holding yourself to standards that hurt you is yourself.”

Will had used almost the same train of thought to try to make himself feel less guilty – just biological responses that he couldn’t help. So why was it that when Hannibal said it, he felt so much worse?

“You’ve thought the same thing, haven’t you?” Hannibal asked. “See, we’re not completely at odds after all, our views are not irreconcilable. We can find common ground where we both see things from the same perspective, and we can only get there through open discussion and honesty.”

“I’ve been completely honest. You’re the one who has a problem with the truth, not me.”

“If you’re willing to be honest, let’s discuss how you define your own arousal.”

“What do you mean, define?”

“Well, when you first came to me, you defined your sexuality in large part by who you were aroused by. You told me you didn’t hate Alphas, but had no sexual interest in them or their genitals. Meanwhile, you felt physical arousal from your experiences with Matthew, so you decided you were only sexually attracted to Omegas. You had no sexual experience with Alphas yet, so I won’t blame you for making that assumption. But I was able to prove you _are_ sexually aroused by Alphas and Alpha cock, and can be thoroughly sexually pleasured by them. So by your own definitions, do you now accept that your attraction to Alphas is at the very least equally valid as your attraction to Omegas?”

“No. Because I was never attracted to you. You didn’t _arouse_ me,” Will said, as firmly as he could manage. “We just talked about this, how it was all just a physical response, nothing more. Just a sort of reflex of physical arousal. It doesn’t mean anything about my attraction or orientation.”

“What’s the difference?” Hannibal asked.

Will blinked. “What?”

“What is the functional difference between things that arouse you and please you sexually, and things that you do not find desirable, but still cause physical arousal and sexual pleasure?”

“The difference is one I want, and the other I don’t. It’s pretty fucking simple.”

“But why must you insist one is desired but not the other, if the effect is exactly the same?”

His hands clenched on the chair, and he couldn’t tell if the chill in his body was rage or fear. “That’s just how it works. I don’t make the rules.”

“The difference, Will, is that you have convinced yourself that your sexual desires can simply be willed into or out of existence to fit your preferred narrative, and therefore you define the arousal that aligns with that narrative as real, and the arousal that doesn’t as fake. If it weren’t for that stubbornness, if you simply let yourself accept what you feel, there would be no difference at all. And importantly, no reason to be bothered by having an orgasm from undesired arousal which is functionally no different from any orgasm you’ve had from desired arousal. You’re doing nothing but hurting yourself.”

“But…” The memories of those orgasms distracted him with an uncomfortable lurch of his stomach. “But I didn’t _want_ it.”

“You didn’t _want_ to want it. But your body, and therefore yourself, clearly did want it.”

“But it wasn’t like it was with Matthew. Not at all.” He was able to say that confidently, at least.

“Tell me how it’s different.”

“With him I felt… warm, and happy, and safe. I felt good. My body but my mind too. We both felt good. With you, I was just scared, and angry, and upset. I had a panic attack, for fuck’s sake!”

“But would it have been an upsetting experience if you didn’t expect it to be upsetting? If you simply saw an Alpha offering to help you through your heat, and you believed that was okay and thought it was okay for you to feel good from it. You wouldn’t have had any of those negative feelings, would you? And if we’d had a bond of friendship, like you would with a mate, you could have had that warm safe feeling too. It’s understandable that an intimate experience with a close friend will feel different from someone you’ve just interacted with in a professional context.”

Will was shaking, and he regretted that he felt more unsteady standing than he would have sitting down.

“It doesn’t matter _why_ I was upset, it matters that I _was_ upset and that you ignored it.”

“I’m sorry, Will. I had to prioritize your long-term happiness over your short-term comfort.”

“Bullshit. You enjoyed hurting me. I know what a sadist looks like.” This conversation had shaken him more than he'd hoped, but now he was firmly back in anger and certainty. He knew what he'd seen.

Hannibal’s eyes smiled, but he didn’t admit to it.

“I enjoyed several aspects of the experience; the physical satisfaction of having sex with you, and the separate satisfaction of being proven right. It may be petty, but it’s quite common. You’re also reaching for that satisfaction of being proven right, but in the opposite direction. You want to prove to me that it all went as you expected: the therapy was pointless, you learned nothing, you hated every minute and it’s left you the worse for it. But we both know, no matter how much you deny it, that none of those things are true.”

“That’s what you say, and I disagree. This discussion isn’t going anywhere it hasn’t before. And yeah, blah blah blah, it won’t work if I won’t let it. Did you expect anything different?”

“There’s a reason we have several wrap-up sessions, instead of just one. I want you to think a bit about what we’re discussing in between each session. You’ve already started seeing things a bit differently in the wake of your heat, so I’m confident your beliefs will continue to develop.”

Will wanted to tell him he was wrong, but it was true something _had_ changed since then, at least some questions or nagging doubts. He didn’t like it. But he tried to summon some challenge to his voice when he said, “We’ll see about that.”

“Yes. I’m sure we will.” He hated that Hannibal already sounded content with whatever was going to happen. Then Hannibal added, “I do appreciate you taking the time to finish your therapy properly, despite your doubts. It takes courage, whether it’s to stand your ground or accept a new understanding. Many Omegas lack such bravery. I’m proud of you for returning to face it, no matter what may come of it.”

“I don’t want your _pride_ ,” Will hissed. The statement made his skin crawl. “I don’t want any kind of praise from you.”

“But you do care about my opinion, or you wouldn’t have returned. You wouldn’t have cared if I thought I’d won or not, you would have been able to part ways.”

“That’s different from wanting your approval. I think it’s kind of the opposite of wanting your approval, actually.”

“Regardless, you will have my approval when you deserve it. It’s important you understand that my goal is not to tear you down, it is to help you in whatever way I can. This whole experience has clearly been exhausting for you, and I won’t deprive you of deserved praise for making it through and still having the tenacity to come to this session. And that has nothing to do with our point of disagreement, so there’s no need for you to feel defensive. It’s just a positive observation of your character.”

Will stared at him. It felt weird to get praise from Hannibal when he was so used to his criticisms, and he didn’t really know how to respond. “Well, I won’t thank you for it.”

“I don’t expect any thanks from you. I simply expect you to show up for your upcoming sessions so we can have a proper resolution. And if you do, you can ensure I don’t get any notion that you might be reconsidering your beliefs, and I can be assured that you’re able to cope with the stress of your treatment. Does that seem fair?”

“Fair? No, I don’t think having to see you at all is fair, after what you did to me. But I’m getting pretty used to things not being fair, so sure. I can deal with it.”

He wasn’t sure if he was saying that more for Hannibal’s sake or his own, but he was sure he was going to need as much resolve as possible to make it through this.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's some fairly detailed discussion of rape dreams in this chapter, but otherwise it's mostly the usual therapy stuff

Will wasn’t sure his beliefs developed exactly as Hannibal predicted, but things did wear at him a bit. The way Hannibal had bluntly asked what defined arousal as legitimate instead of just a reflex, besides the fact that one was from things that he wanted, and one was from things that he didn’t.

_What’s the difference?_

It was a stupid question, because of course what he _wanted_ was a crucial part of the picture. His comfort and desires mattered, whether they were physical, mental, or emotional. He knew that. When he wasn’t in the same room as Hannibal, knowing that no matter what he said the doctor would find some way to counter it, it was easier to believe that. If something turned him on but made him feel horrible on a different level, and he had no desire to deal with whatever it was that made him feel horrible, then there wasn’t much fucking point to it and he shouldn’t have to deal with it. Simple as that.

But what about the issue of _wanting_ to want? How much did that change what he wanted and how he reacted?

When he realized he was attracted to Omegas instead of Alphas, it definitely wasn’t something he _wanted_ to want. It was already hard enough trying to fit in. But now it was part of how he saw himself, it was important to him. So sure, he didn’t really want that to change anymore. If he had changed over time and now actually could be attracted to Alphas, it might be hard for him to accept, so maybe Hannibal was right about that. He was right that Will couldn’t argue anymore that he couldn’t get pleasure from Alphas, his heat had proven that much. As awful as it was and as humiliated as he felt, he’d still had physical pleasure from it. It had felt good when Hannibal was deep inside him, maddening when he was denied it, and his knot made him come so many times. And that must mean he _could_ enjoy sex with an Alpha if he wasn’t being forced into it, right?

And even if he wanted to hold onto that old part of himself, and that desire was what was stopping him from changing completely… was it what he _should_ want? Hannibal said a lot of crap, but he was right when he said it would make Will’s life a lot more pleasant if he could learn to be attracted to Alphas. It didn’t look like he was going to be able to escape the arranged marriage thing, and fighting it kept hurting him. If he had no alternative, that’s all his resistance was doing – satisfying his stubbornness and making it harder for himself.

It would be easier if he liked Alphas. He’d hurt less if he liked Alphas. He should _want_ to like Alphas.

Could he change what he wanted just by deciding it was the better thing to do? Could he at least excuse himself a bit for any sign of attraction?

He could try, but it was hard. He had some dreams now that he’d describe as nightmares, but he would wake up to damp thighs and the memory of being forced to take an Alpha’s cock, and he felt bad and wrong before he could even consciously judge himself for it. He didn’t have to go through a process of deciding whether or not it was okay before he felt it. And even if he told himself it was fine, and regardless of how far the dream’s scales tipped towards pleasure or displeasure, he couldn’t escape the feeling of disgust. When he woke up from those dreams, he knew he couldn’t just change what he wanted so easily. Whatever in him was repulsed by it was deeper than just a matter of what he wanted to want.

But that didn’t change his circumstances. It didn’t change that there was still logic to what Hannibal had said. No matter how hard or impossible it might be to change that part of himself, it seemed like he should try. And that was a hard pill to swallow, but he didn’t think he could fight it any more. This whole disaster had worn him down.

By the day of his next appointment, Hannibal’s prediction was correct – something had changed from last time. This time, Will went in feeling like he had more reasons to cooperate than to not, and he resigned himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to win. Not the battle, not the war. He wasn’t going to escape being married off and mated to an Alpha, and the more he struggled, the more it hurt him. Even if he kept trying, it weakened his defenses to know that fighting it was self-defeating.

But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. Because he’d been preoccupied with defending himself, he hadn’t considered offense, and once defense was no longer an option, he realized there was another approach he could take, something else he might be able to win at, or at least make a painful little jab. Surely Hannibal would have some weakness hidden beneath it all. Some skeleton in the closet that Will could drag out to pay him back for what he’d done.

Will might not be able to undo what Hannibal had done to him, but he didn’t have to let Hannibal walk away from it scot-free.

Even if it was just a vague notion for now, he’d be watchful.

His next session, Will sat in his chair with his arms crossed in front of him.

“How has your week been?” Hannibal asked.

“I’m tired,” he said.

“Have you been getting enough sleep?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep. My dreams… haven’t been calming.”

“Tell me about your dreams.”

Will shook his head. “We’ll get to that later. I can’t jump into that shit right away.”

“What would you like to talk about first?”

“Well… I was wondering about your other patients. You haven’t really talked about your practice outside of our sessions.”

“Confidentiality limits how much I can say about my other patients.”

“Yeah, I know that. I was just curious. I mean, you’ve done this conversion process before, right? That’s why my dad picked you.”

“I have experience with it, yes.”

“How many other patients have you treated for it?”

“It’s difficult to give a precise count. My services aren’t strictly separated out like a menu, and not every patient receives the same course of treatment. I’ve treated perhaps a couple dozen patients for whom the corrective process has played a significant role.”

“And for patients who received the same kind of treatment as I did?”

“With an intensive inpatient treatment? Fewer than half that.”

While it was a relief to know fewer people had undergone the full torture, it also stung to know he’d been one of an unlucky few.

“What makes you decide to go that far with some and not others?”

“It depends how well they respond to regular therapy. If they are reasonable and cooperate with the process, there’s no need for any extreme actions. I told you, your treatment was entirely determined by your behavior. If you hadn’t been so stubbornly resistant, you never would have been in that position.”

He’d meant to keep asking questions about his history with patients, but that distracted him.

“Well, it doesn’t do a hell of a lot of good telling me about that consequence now, does it?”

“It won’t change what happened, but you can take that lesson and learn from it. Have you given thought to what I told you last session?

“What part?”

“That it is only your conscious desires and self-imposed shame that is holding you back. That if you can release that shame and broaden your desires, you will have a better life.”

“I’ve thought about it.”

“And?”

“And… I understand your point.” He couldn’t bring himself to go further and say Hannibal was right. “I don’t want to feel any worse than I have to.”

“That’s excellent progress.” He might have looked a bit surprised at that.

“But I… I don’t know how to do that. To stop feeling bad about it. It’s such a fast reflex reaction.”

“Your time in the hospital lay the foundations for you to understand and accept attraction and submission to Alphas. But you’ve been feeling shame about your physical responses to that treatment. You’ve locked the memories of your arousal away, glued to an experience that you feel badly about instead of your everyday life. Because you felt badly about that experience, you feel badly about the arousal.”

“Then how am I supposed to change that?”

“I’d like you to make an effort to remember. Think about the arousal and the experiences around it, focusing on what felt physically good both during the heat and during the conditioning training before it, and think about it while masturbating. Establish those memories in your mind as something not just tolerable, but acceptable and desirable.”

“Even when it makes me feel sick to remember it?”

“Just work through it, even if the mood is sour. Remind yourself of the point, which is to accept the memories and stop hurting. It’s all to make you feel better, and eventually, even if the medicine is bitter, your body will accept it.”

From where he was now, that sounded unlikely. “Those other people you treated, they accepted it eventually?”

“Mostly. There are always some difficult cases. But sometimes people surprise you.”

“Like me. You didn’t expect me to give this many concessions, did you?”

“I expected it would be a challenge for you. You’re stubborn and you’re smart, and you’re not used to admitting fault when your point of view is challenged.”

“So you did all that to me not even expecting it to work?”

“That’s not what I said. I expected the treatment to be effective, and it was. Your willingness to admit its effectiveness was what was in question.”

“I haven’t said it was effective. It _wasn’t_ , it didn’t change how I feel. It just wore me down.”

“You were able to concede points that you never would have before the treatment. Such as your ability to be aroused by an Alpha. You were able to accept the goal of your therapy, and desire to rid yourself of the negativity you’ve felt toward your natural instincts. That’s progress. I call that effective.”

“I want to get rid of the bad feelings, but that doesn’t mean I believe it’s possible.”

“You’ll have to put in the effort. I can do little more than guide from a distance at this point.”

“Are you still _satisfied_ guiding from a distance?” Will’s words were bitter, remembering how Hannibal had taunted him with that word during their last session.

“My desires in that sense are irrelevant. Your father has only consented for these to be talk sessions, nothing more. I’m contractually limited.”

“Good.”

Hannibal watched him closely. “Are you still as angry at me as last week? Your body language is much less defensive this time.”

“I’m angry. But I don’t want you to think I’m weak, hiding behind a chair.”

“I’m very aware you’re not weak.”

“You might be the only one. Everyone’s always treated me like I’m fragile.”

“Even Matthew?”

Will felt like he was punched in the stomach. He hadn’t told Hannibal what happened with Matthew after he got out of the hospital, and now that he mentioned it he was surprised he hadn’t asked. He shook his head while he tried to pull himself together to respond. “No. He treated me like a friend.”

“Does he still, after your stay at the hospital? No obstruction by pity?”

Will shook his head, but felt Hannibal’s attention focus even more strongly on him.

“How did you explain the experience to him?”

Will wanted to hide the truth. He expected Hannibal would gloat, and losing Matthew as a friend was too fresh and too painful. But he couldn’t run through a whole fiction about how it all played out. Hannibal wouldn’t buy it, and it might just hurt more thinking about the uncomfortable conversations they might have had.

“I didn’t,” he said quietly.

“You avoided the subject?”

“I… avoided him. Blocked his number. I couldn’t tell him. And I couldn’t talk to him without telling him.”

“Why couldn’t you tell him, Will?”

“Partly I was afraid of his pity. Partly… I don’t know.”

“Were you ashamed?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because you and he built an illusion together, one that was crucial to your relationship, and you had just had that illusion shattered. You even participated in it, asking an Alpha to use you sexually when you were desperate. He would have seen that you were unfaithful to him and your illusions. And I would wager you knew that the only way to maintain that illusion was to lie, and you could not bear to acknowledge it was all built on a lie.”

“That’s not…” He couldn’t finish. Too many of those words sounded familiar from his reasoning: feeling like he’d been unfaithful, feeling like he’d have to lie about at least part of it.

“What interests me, Will, is that this happened after you rested so much on your relationship with Matthew. You had only good things to say about your relationship, you professed to care about him so deeply, and you were willing to go through very challenging ordeals simply to avoid risking anything bad happening to him. If all that was true, I would think he’d forgive you, and want to take care of you, and you would need the comfort of him. But that you were able to cut him out of your life so easily makes me think that perhaps you weren’t doing all this out of concern for him after all, but just using him as an excuse that would let you consent to treatment without ever admitting you wanted the treatment.”

“I didn’t cut him out _easily_ , and that’s not true!”

“Then what is true?”

“I don’t…” His anger suddenly sank into nowhere, and he closed his eyes. “I don’t think I even know any more.”

“You’re going through substantial changes. It’s natural to be uncertain.”

“I’m just… so fucking tired. I think that’s half the reason I agreed to try it your way, I’m just too exhausted to fight it anymore.”

“You mentioned earlier that you were having some trouble sleeping, as well. Are you ready to talk about your dreams now?”

Will sighed. Not much point delaying it any longer. “I dream about Alphas. Sex dreams. But not like the porn stuff you showed me.”

“How, then?”

Silence for a moment. “I dream about them raping me. Never normal sex, it’s always rape.”

“How do you define rape in this context?”

“Sex I don’t want.”

“I thought you didn’t want any sex with an Alpha.”

“Sex I’m _forced_ into. Held down, gun to my head kind of stuff. They’re nightmares.”

Hannibal nodded. “Do you wake up with slick?”

Silence.

Hannibal nodded to himself again. “Do you feel guilty about these dreams when you wake up?”

“I try not to. I’m trying to avoid that… self-imposed shame, whatever the fuck it is. But I still feel gross when I wake up.”

“Do you feel betrayed by your subconscious, that it’s presenting you with such images when you have expressed they unsettle you?”

“Yeah. Guess that’s one way of putting it.”

“Try to remember your new goal whenever you have one of these dreams. Remind yourself that your subconscious is only trying to help you along toward acceptance. As with your memories, I’d encourage you to take the time to masturbate to your dreams as well, while you are already slick and aroused.”

Will cringed. “I don’t… I mean, what happened in the hospital already happened to me, I have to deal with that one way or another. But those dreams… I don’t want to intentionally condition myself to want that kind of thing.”

“I don’t think it would harm you to do so. But tell me more about what kind of thing it is. Does the Alpha resemble anyone, or is he generic, anonymous?”

“Mostly anonymous. But sometimes it’s more than just one.”

“How many?”

“A lot of the time, it’s a big group of them. I don’t know how many, or who they are, they’re just… all around me. As far as I can see. They grab me and…” Hannibal’s gaze was on him and Will was looking anywhere but at him. He was sure he shouldn’t indulge him with details, but he couldn’t stop now that the truth was spilling out. “They pass me around like a toy. Take turns using me, or as many at once as they can, until I can’t move or breathe and I have that same overwhelming feeling I did during my heat. It’s like that… completely helpless and used and drowning in it… multiplied around me like a kaleidoscope.”

“I see.”

He didn’t say anything more, and despite his distress Will snorted at the bland remark, compared to Hannibal’s usually cunning responses. “That the best you got? No taunts about how much I clearly yearn for Alphas, no invasive questions about how it felt to have their knots forced into me? About whether I cried or begged or came for them in the end?”

Hannibal shifted in his seat, and Will finally pinpointed why his responses had weakened. He was getting turned on hearing Will describe these dreams. Will felt his stomach lurch.

After too long a pause, Hannibal said, “You don’t need me to tell you your dreams can express desires. And I assume you wouldn’t give me those details if I asked.”

Will shrugged. “Probably not.”

“Then it wouldn’t be worth asking.” After a moment looking like he was gathering his thoughts, he said, “How do you feel about the fact that the dreams are all nonconsensual? Do you think you would find them less unsettling if force wasn’t used against you, or do you find these dreams more acceptable than consensual sex dreams would be?”

“More… acceptable?”

“Do you find it comforting that in these dreams you can still make a point of resisting, even if you enjoy it?”

“I didn’t enjoy it in the dreams, I knew I was being raped. It wasn’t comforting to know that no matter how hard I fought I couldn’t get away.”

“But the scenario interests your subconscious, nonetheless.”

Will shrugged. “I figured that was because of hell week with you. You wanted to rewire my brain, you hurt me and forced me to like it, and now my brain links arousal to awful traumatic sex. Thanks for that.”

“That’s one interpretation. Another is that as someone who has repressed feelings of attraction to Alphas, you subconsciously find it more acceptable to imagine yourself in a situation where an Alpha gives you no choice about having sex with him, rather than to imagine yourself desiring sex with an Alpha. That way, you don’t have to accept any responsibility. Your sexual orientation becomes irrelevant, because you place yourself as a helpless victim rather than an instigator.”

It sounded like more of the doctor’s usual bullshit, but it kind of matched up with Will’s recent experiences. Will did find it easier to accept the parts of his hospital stay that he could neatly categorize as rape than he did to accept the parts where he was participating, where it all got blurrier and started to feel uncomfortably like he genuinely had asked for it. So he shrugged and said quietly, “Maybe you’re right.”

He hated the satisfaction that he knew Hannibal felt without even looking at him. He was getting his victory. Will closed his eyes again. Hannibal was spinning his words again, and it was too hard to tell what was real and what was just the image that Hannibal projected for him. Hannibal was too poised and certain, he had an answer for everything, he could outmaneuver Will effortlessly. Except…

“What are you thinking now?” Hannibal asked.

Except when Will had talked about his dreams, and Hannibal was distracted enough by his arousal that he hadn’t managed more than _I see_. And that made his skin crawl, but it was also a crack in his armor. Potential weakness. And that made Will’s mind jump into high gear.

Hannibal was “contractually limited,” and as much of an asshole as he was, Will got the sense he took his professional reputation very seriously. He’d said that phrase with a finality that made it sound like he would maintain that boundary and did not think crossing it would be in his best interest. There could be consequences for something like that, if they found he was acting on sexual attraction to his patients instead of on therapeutic rationale. It could undermine his whole practice.

“Will?”

“I…”

They only had one more visit scheduled after this one. Hannibal liked control and probably liked having control over himself just as much, and it would be hard to get him to cross that boundary. Will didn’t know if he could work through the discomfort of feeling Hannibal’s attraction to him, but if he wanted to manipulate him he’d have to try and start now, even if he only had a vague idea of what his next step could be.

He took a deep shaky breath. “I was thinking about the dreams. I said I didn’t enjoy what happened to me during them, but… it’s hard to tell sometimes what I’m actually feeling underneath it all when there’s so much chaos around me. I usually remember it in flashes when I wake up. The feeling of…” He swallowed and ground his teeth. “The feeling of an Alpha’s hand in my hair, pulling me around or pushing me down until I’m choking around him. The taste of them, or the sound of them growling in my ear, or the feeling of cum dripping out of me when I’m gaping open. But when it’s just one Alpha, it’s clearer. And I think… I think I do enjoy those, at least physically. It does feel good. Hurts a bit too, but not like when you took my virginity, not that… sharp, searing pain when you forced your way in. It all blends together.”

His eyes flicked up to see how that had landed, and it had certainly had an impact. Hannibal looked like his mind was no longer on the present session, distant if not dazed, and lacking the sharp scrutiny he usually faced Will with. “That sounds like less of a nightmare than you had implied,” he said after a moment.

“They’re still nightmares. It… it scares me to think that’s something I want. Even in the moment it’s horrifying, just like it was horrifying to spend a heat with you, when I was so upset even when…”

His throat tightened too much to speak.

Hannibal stared at him. “Even when…?”

He had to say it. He was in the right direction, Hannibal was off his guard. He could throw him off further. “Even when it felt… so good, when you took me deep and hard and I couldn’t think of anything except how your cock felt, when your knot filled me better than anything ever had.”

The words sounded forced and resentful, there was nothing he could have done to cover that up, but that worked just fine for the picture he was trying to present. Hannibal expected him to feel shame and resentment, and enthusiasm would have been much more suspicious.

Hannibal’s lips were parted and he looked at a loss for words. He cleared his throat. “Well…”

“I have a hard time imagining what it would feel like if I wasn’t in heat. Would it feel just as good? Or would it hurt more, if I was less slick and tighter around you?”

Hannibal blinked at him, and after a moment said, “Mating bonds tend to make Omegas more reactive to their Alpha’s pheromones, so you should not have a problem with slick when you are with your future Alpha.”

The insertion of a generic future Alpha, replacing Will’s use of _you_ , sounded very deliberate.

Will shrugged. “I guess I’m just… curious.”

Hannibal nodded. He looked stiff. “Well, we’re getting rather close to the end of the session, so although I appreciate your candor, we should probably wrap up rather than looking deeper into those fantasies.”

“You don’t want to hear more?” Will felt a hint of triumph. He knew Hannibal was interested to hear him talk about this, he could read the arousal. The fact that he was actively avoiding hearing more meant Will was right about there being a weakness there that Hannibal was trying not to give way to.

“Just hold onto them for now and use them to practice the masturbation I recommended.”

“Okay.” Will gave a little nod, as if he found nothing disorienting about what he was expected to do at all and was accepting this as an order like a good Omega would. 

Hannibal stared at him, and Will averted his eyes in his best imitation of innocent self-consciousness.

He might only have a vague idea of how to continue this, but he could figure it out. He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I’m not trying to be accurate to real life equivalents in the first place and I'm using some creative freedom with whatever’s happening with omegaverse biology/neurology, several people have mentioned Hannibal being uncomfortably persuasive, so I feel compelled to counteract some of his points here.
> 
> I couldn’t give Will very strong counterarguments without weakening the self-doubt he’s meant to feel here under the influence of Hannibal’s manipulations, but that doesn’t mean that Hannibal’s arguments are sound or even particularly strong, just manipulative enough to sound convincing. He finds things that Will already feels/believes, sympathizes, uses them as a central point in his argument, and then yanks them to the wrong conclusion. Example: you feel shame (yep!) > you didn’t do anything wrong and you have no reason to feel ashamed (yep!) > the shame doesn’t exist outside your head therefore it is exclusively your fault (nope! and Hannibal deliberately fueled that shame during Will’s heat by mocking and demeaning him, and he dodges responsibility for it by pretending arousal is the only source of Will’s shame rather than, say, being intentionally degraded when he was vulnerable and told how embarrassing it must be to realize he was wrong) > if you accepted arousal from alphas as legitimate, you wouldn’t be ashamed by having an orgasm when an alpha rapes you (no! this conclusion assumes his arousal during rape is just like regular arousal and means he’s attracted to alphas, which is incorrect, and completely ignores the fact that it was rape, and that even if he was raped by an omega who he found attractive, he could have felt shame from the violation/loss of control/society telling him arousal equals consent).
> 
> And on that last point about whether the arousal was normal arousal, in addition to the brief counterargument Will makes at the start of this chapter, I want to emphasize that arousal during rape really is distinct from arousal during consensual sex, partially because the fight/flight response fucks around with physiological responses. There’s an interesting article [here](https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-05/science-arousal-during-rape/) that talks about it.  
>    
> I’m also gonna repeat Will’s point about comfort and desires being important, because that’s really the counterargument that makes most of Hannibal’s arguments irrelevant – the reason it’s not helping Will much at this stage is because he’s in a situation where he thinks changing his desires, if it’s possible, would make his life more comfortable in the long run.
> 
> (eta: The below is unsolicited advice/affirmations and I risk sounding condescending or overbearing. Feel free to ignore it. Everyone's journey is different; I'm not an expert. But because I know hearing certain viewpoints can be a trigger for self-doubt regardless of one's usual confidence, I wanted to offer something just in case.)
> 
> But just as a little affirmation, if you feel attracted or aroused by something and it makes you uncomfortable or you just don’t like it for some reason, you have no obligation to act on or even acknowledge that attraction and you have no obligation to try to like it, regardless of how anyone else thinks you should feel about it, and regardless of why you don’t like it. You still can, if you have a reason to want to, like if you feel like the discomfort is from societal expectations instead of personal squicks and you’re willing to work through some discomfort for potential pleasure. But you don’t have to. And the fact that something turns you on doesn’t have to mean anything about you as a person. 
> 
> Attraction and orientation are pretty fucking complicated and there’s more to it than just “sexually attracted? y/n” and “romantically attracted? y/n,” and the above point on comfort is still relevant. I’ve known people who have had rare occasions of attraction to a gender that’s different from their usual preference, but don’t feel comfortable claiming a new label to encompass those rare occasions. Their identities are still valid. And although it’s not what happened in Will’s case, attractions can shift, and that doesn’t mean someone’s identity was mistaken, and it doesn’t have to change who a person chooses to have relationships with. That shift can be meaningful, or it can be “alright, I guess that’s how it is now, whatever,” or it can be “I’d still rather not go there, thanks.” And it’s really no one else’s business but your own whether you choose to label or act on any changes.
> 
> Alright, ramble over. That’s probably the most real I’m gonna get for the duration of this thing, I just became more aware of people who might be reading this who haven’t spent as many years deflecting attempts to invalidate them and could maybe use some extra reassurance after wading through Hannibal’s shit.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More sex stuff in this chapter, some uncomfortable content but not as extreme as previous sex scenes (though there's Hannibal POV which includes some fond rape memories and twisted fantasies)

Will came out of his session torn between a thrill of knowing he’d sniffed out a weakness he could actually use against Dr. Lecter, and wondering what the hell he was getting himself into here.

If he wanted to get Hannibal caught acting inappropriately, he needed proof he was acting inappropriately by legal standards. Given that he couldn’t record their next session without revealing that he was intentionally baiting Hannibal, that suggested he’d have to let Hannibal actually do something inappropriate to him. Something that would leave DNA evidence.

Could he really make himself go that far?

His first reaction to that was _no_ , the same _fuck no, screw you_ that he’d given his father when he told him he needed more therapy sessions with Dr. Lecter. But where did that actually leave him?

If he didn’t do something, he left this whole experience with _nothing_. Just a list of things he’d lost and ways he’d been broken. And that was hard to accept, knowing all the effort he’d put into arguing and resisting had amounted to _nothing_.

So maybe he could bear to make it a little bit more unpleasant for the chance of leaving with _something_. Some little victory. Something that could at least sting the person who’d hurt him. It wasn’t like Hannibal hadn’t already done much worse to him.

Maybe if he tried to get himself used to the idea, he could tolerate it long enough to do what needed to be done.

He masturbated to the memories and dreams, just like Hannibal had told him to. It felt gross and he was never able to come from it, but he kept trying. He tried to do it thinking of a future scene too, imagining Hannibal taking the bait and putting his cock in Will’s mouth, but the vision always wavered, sometimes ending suddenly when Will imagined biting down until all he could taste was Hannibal’s blood.

And his dreams didn’t stay exactly the same; it was no longer always an anonymous Alpha.

Too often he remembered Hannibal’s question: _Have you dreamed of being bred?_ And his certainty: _You will._

Will hadn’t. He never had in his entire life, before, not even one dream about pregnancy.

He did now.

He dreamed of his heat controlling him, moving him against his will like a puppet, bending him over and spreading his legs to be taken. He imagined Hannibal and his vicious smug smile, mounting him and forcing a knot inside him, and coming so much that Will’s belly started to swell from it. He imagined that his skin went translucent and inside he could see what was growing inside him, but it was not human, but tarry black and branching like some wild rotting tree.

And when Will woke up from those dreams he couldn’t touch himself, couldn’t tolerate the thought of Hannibal touching him, and wondered if the version of the future where he imagined biting off his cock was closer to the right direction. Maybe he could stab him. Kill him. Could he do that?

Sometimes it seemed easier than the alternative.

But he kept trying. Tried to move past the sick feeling and the self-hatred, reminding himself that this could make it easier. If not with Hannibal, then with some future Alpha. Someday, maybe, this would make his life easier for him. Maybe he could change himself enough that he could be okay with it all.

It was a lot of maybes, but he didn’t have anything better to hold onto.

Hannibal did not look forward to his final session with Will Graham. He didn’t like knowing they would soon be completely severed from each other, when Will was just starting to make some valuable progress, meaning he could no longer see what that progress might turn into. And more than that, he disliked knowing how reluctant he had grown to bid Will a final goodbye.

He liked some patients more than others, whether because they interested him psychologically or because of a more shallow attraction. Sometimes, like Will, they were both. This wasn’t new. He knew how to distance himself and satisfy himself with whatever restrictions were placed on their working relationship. He’d never found that difficult. Until Will.

He’d found Will’s heat particularly pleasurable, perhaps because as Will had guessed, he was a sadist, and Will’s repulsion to him had run particularly deep. He had also been a particularly stubborn patient, and the difference between his previous interactions with Hannibal and his unwilling but desperate and exploitable responses in heat was night and day, giving him the satisfaction of making a challenging conquest.

But even then, he thought he could have moved on easily enough, though wistfully. Except for what had happened after Will finished his heat. When he had returned to Hannibal (and Hannibal had told the truth when he said he was impressed by the strength required by that alone), he hadn’t cowered. Put a chair between the two of them, yes, but he did not take the common route of acting as compliant as possible, as submissive as possible, as a natural result of fear. He hadn’t avoided provoking Hannibal, knowing now how cruel Hannibal could be. He hadn’t given the right answers and pretended the treatment had completely cured him, fearing that a lack of progress would send them to another round of in-patient treatment. He had barreled into the office with his fear only an undercurrent beneath a cloud of anger. He’d glared at Hannibal as if he would respond violently to any attempt to approach him.

He hadn’t sustained that level of anger for long, but that he was able to at all was both intriguing and oddly pleasing, and made it even more rewarding when he made genuine concessions to Hannibal’s arguments. And then on top of it he talked about such provocative fantasies.

More than just making Hannibal desire him, it made Hannibal want to _have_ him, in every sense. And that was simply impossible under the circumstances.

But he told himself he could make it one more session. And then, as much as it displeased him, the boy would be out of his life and he would have no further temptation.

At their final session, Hannibal skimmed through a review of the week as quickly as possible. He confirmed that Will had in fact been masturbating to his rape dreams, and let Will talk just enough to know that he hadn’t been able to orgasm from it but he had kept trying and intended to continue.

Then Hannibal quickly changed the subject before Will could give any tantalizing details that might derail Hannibal’s determination to get through one last session before putting him out of sight and out of mind. Fortunately, Will’s father had requested they discuss a topic that Hannibal found agreeable, so they could focus on that instead of on any vivid fantasies.

“For our last session,” Hannibal said, “your father has asked me to discuss your future and what will be expected of you.”

Will frowned. “Thought he’d made that pretty clear already. He sells me off to be someone’s Omega wife, and I have to behave myself and not act like I’d rather be literally anywhere else.”

“He wants to be more specific. I’m admittedly also curious about how you expect your experiences have prepared you for mated life, and whether you have remaining doubts or concerns about such a life.”

“I have plenty of doubts and concerns. I just know that there’s no point trying to resist and I have to do the best I can.”

“Marriage requires more than simply a lack of resistance. It requires respect and obedience.” He noticed Will’s frown deepening. “When your Alpha gives you your first order, will you obey immediately?”

Will fidgeted. Hannibal imagined he was contemplating whether to try to lie or not. He finally landed on “I guess it depends on the order.”

“You know that’s not the right answer.”

Now Will cringed. “I know. But I have a hard time imagining it without thinking that the image of myself obeying immediately isn’t real, it’s not _my_ reaction, it’s just a puppet I’m using in a little play in my mind.”

Hannibal nodded. “It’s natural for you to have some disconnect between your current self-image and your future image, especially when you’ve changed so recently.”

“Yeah.” Will looked down at his fingers, still fidgeting. “I also… I guess I don’t know what kind of orders to expect from my Alpha. The cliché would be ‘present,’ but that’s just for sex stuff, right?”

Hannibal tilted his head. “You should have been exposed to an assortment of examples in various media, besides that specific cliché.”

“But I don’t really know how much of it would really happen. Sometimes the Alpha is shown giving orders about just about everything, sometimes there’s almost nothing.”

“There can be some vast differences between Alphas in real life as well. You’ll find some Alphas who very much enjoy their authority and will take every opportunity to have the pleasure of watching their Omegas obey, even if it’s for mundane tasks like refilling their glass. Others prefer not to micromanage, and simply set general expectations and boundaries and leave commands for the bedroom. Hence the popularity of the cliché. There are very few Alphas who would not relish commanding their Omegas in intimate situations.”

“I know you did,” Will said quietly, and Hannibal remembered. It was after Will was denied pleasure where he wanted it and his mouth knotted that he finally broke. Hannibal had ordered him to present, and Will had given him the most resentful look but had obeyed, turned onto his hands and knees and then sank down on his front half, leaving his ass raised and welcoming.

Hannibal had praised him, told him what a good Omega he was, and took his time to appreciate the sight, knowing that every second that Will presented without having his heat sated would make him burn even worse with that potent combination of humiliation and need. He wanted to give Will the feeling that he was wantonly begging for an Alpha who wasn’t even that interested in him. And the sound the Omega had made when Hannibal finally sank inside his cunt was rapturous.

He tried to shake off the thought. It wasn’t helpful.

“How does it feel to think of presenting to a different Alpha when he commands it, your future mate?”

“Embarrassing. It makes me feel… exposed. Objectified. Knowing what you see between my legs, knowing that’s all you care about, all you’re thinking about is how it will feel to come inside me and…”

It took Hannibal longer than it should have to jump in and correct, “ _He_ , Will. Not me.”

And Will blinked at him and blushed fiercely, eyes lowering to the floor. “Sorry, I didn’t realize…”

Hannibal remembered how Will had a similar slip of the tongue last session. His embarrassment now pointed to it being more meaningful than just misspeaking. He wondered if the Omega might have formed more of a fixation on him than was intended. It was unexpected, but then again, so was Hannibal’s excessive interest in him.

“It’s just,” Will continued, still blushing and avoiding looking at Hannibal directly. “I guess since you’re the only Alpha who’s ever had me that way, or any other way, that’s what I end up thinking about.”

_The only Alpha_. Hannibal had to suppress the possessive instinct that flared up at those words. Part of him, clearly a part not as deeply buried as it should have been, wanted to make sure Hannibal _remained_ the only Alpha to have Will that way. The only one to ever touch him, the only one to hear those pretty sounds when he was fucked.

“There’s no need to linger on it,” he said, as much to himself as to Will. “We were talking about… differences between Alphas. You’ll get an idea of an Alpha’s personality when you meet with potential suitors, of course, and that can tell you how to prepare. In addition to differences in commands, different Alphas have different expectations and priorities from a mate.”

“Like?”

“Some want a companion, and are most interested in the personality of their mate. I suspect your reticence will be off-putting for that type, however. Some seek a mate with good genes and fertility to give them a legacy. Others are more concerned about the maintenance of their household and want someone who will take care of chores, cooking, and any childcare. Others are primarily interested in the sexual benefits, and that can vary from typical sex acts to various fetishes.”

Will swallowed visibly.

“The idea still displeases you,” Hannibal observed.

“Of being an unpaid maid or sex toy? Wouldn’t you be displeased, if it was you?”

“Of course. But I’m an Alpha, and my nature would mean I could never be content in a submissive role like that. You are an Omega, and while you may resist the idea, you will find you have no difficulty fulfilling your role. I’m guessing you’ve been taught practical home skills?”

“Yeah. My school offers classes for it. It’s supposed to be an elective, but my dad’s made me take it since middle school, same as most of the other Omegas.”

“Excellent. Then you should be well-prepared for your duties.”

“In theory. Theory’s different than practice.”

“Where do you imagine struggling with translating theory to practice?”

Will shrugged. “I guess it’s not a problem with housework or cooking. I know how to do those things. But it’s hard to imagine it being my whole job. Especially when you put kids into the picture. I… have no idea how to actually be a parent. I know how to change diapers and that stuff, but that’s not the whole picture. I feel like I’d be bad at it. It’s weird to think about.”

“Everyone is anxious about having their first child. But your maternal instincts will kick in, and you will understand how to do all of those things that they couldn’t have taught you in a curriculum. That doesn’t mean you’ll always know how to solve the problems that may arise, and it doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a good parent, but you will at least be a competent one. Remember, Omegas have exceptionally strong instincts when it comes to breeding, and that includes the aftermath and the child raising that follows. You wouldn’t exist if not for that fact. And breeding is certainly something that every Alpha will expect from you, regardless of their primary reasons for mating you.”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“About what aspect?”

“About having an Alpha breeding me. And not giving me a choice.” He hesitated but added, “I’ve had a dream about it, actually. Recurring.”

“How does it make you feel?”

“I don’t know. My feelings are all mixed up. It’s like the other dreams, where the anonymous Alpha is raping me but I feel physically good, except…”

He was blushing again, and refusing to look at Hannibal directly. “Except what, Will?”

“Except it’s… it’s you.” Hannibal stared at him, unable to respond before Will rushed onwards. “It’s you and you’re holding me down and spreading me open, and saying all those filthy things in my ear again. Telling me what a… filthy needy slut I am. Telling me how you’re going to breed me and never let me go, and I’m trapped – you on top of me, holding my arms behind my back – and you’re fucking me so hard I almost cry, and…”

“Will,” Hannibal said, a weak attempt to interrupt him. _This isn’t appropriate_ , he tried to say, but didn’t.

Will continued. “And it works, I can see how it works in the dream… once you knot me and fill me, my stomach starts to swell right away, and at first I think it’s just your come but then I can see… inside my skin, I see your baby sitting right in my belly, growing too fast and making me round and…” He took a shaky breath and suddenly stopped.

Hannibal could still only stare, his mind whirling, his cock already hard in his trousers. Will would have no such visible sign of arousal, but he was very flushed, and smelled very sweet.

“Does this dream arouse you?” Hannibal asked. His voice was rough. He sounded too affected. He _was_ too affected.

“I…” Will shifted and bit his lip very hard, until there was a tiny well of blood and its scent filled the air. “I’m always really slick when I wake up. Soaking. And I masturbate to it like you told me to, and my mind always goes back to what you did to me in the hospital. I was in heat, so I’m guessing… did you have that Alpha instinct to breed when you smelled me?”

“Yes,” Hannibal said, completely honestly. “I very much wanted to dispose of the condom and have you bare.” Will’s eyes widened a bit more at that, and he squirmed a bit more in his seat. He liked that, didn’t he? “But I knew I couldn’t act on it. Nor could I now. You’re meant to be finding a mate, and not your therapist.”

“I know. I know I shouldn’t fixate on it, and I don’t know why I am, I still hate you. But…”

“Hate doesn’t necessarily rule out attraction.”

And Will nodded, looking pained. “And even with the masturbation I can’t… I haven’t been able to come thinking about it. Not like I did when you were with me. That felt so…” He closed his eyes and gave a little shudder, but Hannibal was still reading more arousal than anything else.

“Can you look at me, Will?”

He’d wanted to see what on Will’s face he might have been hiding, some secret revealed through his eyes, but when Will made eye contact he immediately knew he himself at been seen. Regrettable.

Will looked startled, and a bit fearful. “You’re… turned on.”

Hannibal took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Don’t worry, Will. I’m still bound by my agreement with your father. I have no intention of touching you.”

Will bit his lip. “Because it wouldn’t be… therapeutic?”

“You’re supposed to be beyond the point at which my physical intervention is necessary. The stage has been set, and now I can merely give you direction.”

“Like telling me to masturbate to the dreams and memories. Bring them into my everyday life, make them acceptable and desirable.”

“Yes. Do you feel that’s been working?”

“I’ve been trying, but I think what I’m having trouble with is…” Will frowned, looking like he was struggling to find the right words. “There’s this disconnect. Because in all of my memories and my dreams with Alphas, I’m completely powerless. And masturbating to those thoughts, maybe it should make me feel I’m taking back some control of those thoughts, but it just feels like the person who’s choosing to masturbate to it and the person who has no choice and is forced, that’s not even the same person. I don’t know how to make it feel like it’s the same person when I don’t have any context for what something consensual with an Alpha feels like.”

“Repeating the exercise should help to some extent in integrating those feelings.”

“I just… wonder.”

His voice sounded uncharacteristically weak, and Hannibal couldn’t help but zero in on it.

“Wonder about what?”

“About how it would feel. If it was…” Swallow. “If I’d chosen it.”

Hannibal cocked his head. “Are you curious how it would feel to come to me willingly? Even now?”

After a moment, Will nodded slightly. And Hannibal couldn’t resist that. Not when he had the thought of taking Will so fresh in his mind, and had just given Hannibal an idea for how he could justify encouraging him.

“Do you wonder how it would feel to go to your knees in front of me? To come smell and taste at your own pace, to learn on your own how good an Alpha can feel if you are willing to have him?”

He was going too far.

Will made a noise, almost a whimper. He was staring at Hannibal’s groin and continued to stare as Hannibal uncrossed his legs and spread them, making no attempt to hide his erection.

Too far. He needed to stop, but he couldn’t.

“If you are feeling so disconnected from your rape fantasies, perhaps you could take back control of your desires in your waking life. Prove to yourself that you can make the decisions, you can choose to consent and still enjoy the pleasures of an Alpha.”

Will looked curious, but still scared.

“I won’t touch you,” Hannibal reassured him again. “You have already experienced my desires and the force of my hand. This would be about you and exploring what you want.”

“Are you telling me to… I thought we couldn’t, my dad wouldn’t allow it.”

“I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just making an offer to help you solve the disconnect you describe. I won’t tell your father, and I’ll only do this if you agree to the same. Just our secret. He’ll never have to know about your promiscuity.”

Will winced slightly at that choice of word, but it was necessary insurance to remind him of what the narrative would be if he told anyone. Although Will’s clear reluctance to see Hannibal at all would make it a harder story to tell convincingly, Hannibal could insist that in the wake of his extremely effective treatment, Will had developed a sexual fixation on him, and he became relentless and obsessive until he finally lured Hannibal into action. It would still reflect poorly on Hannibal, of course, but Will would bear some of the burden of blame, and Hannibal didn’t think he’d want his father to hear yet more proof against Will’s claimed lack of interest in Alphas.

Will licked his lips, eyes not moving from his groin. “Take it out?” he asked, uncertainty making the request turn into more of a question. Hannibal had to close his eyes for a moment, caught in a tide of pleasure in hearing those unexpected words from this Omega. Then he did as the boy asked, and drew his cock out to stand erect before him.

Will continued to stare, biting his lip again, thighs shifting as if squirming with arousal. Torn between fear and temptation.

“What does your instinct tell you to do, Will? That voice that you fear but are drawn to. It says you want to be closer, doesn’t it?”

Will nodded again, very small.

Hannibal’s arousal was still a distraction, and he knew he was making a poor judgment call, but now that he had decided to go this route, it was more like it had been during Will’s stay in the hospital – he could accept the arousal as unavoidable and work with it towards a satisfying result, rather than the arousal catching him by surprise and feeling like a dangerous weakness that undermined his sense of self-control when he struggled to suppress it.

“Remember the pleasure you had during your heat. Remember that you can have that again if you’re just able to get past this hurdle and go to an Alpha willingly. You’ve doubted you could be with an Alpha if it wasn’t forced, you’ve seen your fantasies as associations instead of the desires they are. If you come to me now, you take back control. You prove you can choose to change.”

It was a long moment, but then another nod. “What do you want me to do?”

“Come here and kneel down. Take me in your hand. Taste me, if you’d like. Whatever instinct guides you to do.”

Will got up and approached slowly and unsteadily. When he had nearly reached Hannibal he stopped suddenly, body utterly stiff, and the doctor was concerned he was going to flee instead. But Will took a deep breath and exhaled, and he sank down to his knees in front of him.

Hannibal again struggled to piece together something meaningful to say, entranced by the sight of the boy’s flushed cheeks and bitten-red lips so close to his cock. He was careful to keep his hands neutral on his knees, not wanting to scare Will by hinting at how badly he wanted to touch him.

Will took his trembling hand and closed it around the Alpha’s cock, very hesitant. He hadn’t touched him like this before, never participating actively unless Hannibal forced him to ride it. And except for when Hannibal was between his legs, his only contact with the Alpha’s cock was when his mouth was pried open and fucked roughly, a coarse and one-sided action to help him understand his place and learn how to submit to an Alpha’s desires and take whatever was given to him. This was a novelty.

Hannibal still wanted to pry his mouth open and use it, make him choke and sob around his girth, but he couldn’t do anything here that would upset Will enough to go to his father about, so it was completely out of the question. And there was a different kind of pleasure here, in seeing Will take him in hand without being forced, when the boy had once been so very adamant he would never do or want such a thing. Hannibal had changed that, changed his desires. Hannibal imagined how much more he could do, if he had the time – how he could turn Will’s frightened curiosity into sweet desire, make him surrender to what his body asked for, make him beg so beautifully for Hannibal to use him however he wished, as was his right. Make him beg to be _bred_. What more ultimate surrender could there be to his true purpose? Something that no Omega could ever give him, no toy, nothing but a true virile Alpha who would fill him and lay claim to him in the most primal way. It was the essence of being Omega, their most basic and crucial biological need; accepting it as such would be the ultimate admission that he was a true Omega and shared the same role and orientation as any other of his gender. No more nonsense about him being different and above instinct, just pure submission to and acceptance of his destiny.

And already Will dreamed of it. Dreamed of Hannibal, specifically, filling that primal need.

Thinking of this made his cock twitch in Will’s hand, and Will’s eyes widened a fraction, but he did not flee. He gave it a tentative stroke, watching how the foreskin rolled with the movement of his hand.

“That’s it,” Hannibal said, and Will shuddered but did not stop. “It comes naturally to you, doesn’t it?”

“I…” Will’s voice was faint, but he kept stroking.

Hannibal’s cock thickened even more with Will’s hand on it. A small hand, delicate as an Omega should be. It looked beautiful wrapped around his thick Alpha cock, fingertips not even able to touch around its shaft.

Hannibal had to restrain himself from thrusting up into his grip, not wanting to startle him.

“Does it feel better to know you’ve chosen this? That this comes from your actions, not mine.”

Will nodded, and looked slightly more resolute. “I can choose it,” he said quietly, eyes never moving from where his hand stroked Hannibal. “I can make myself…”

Hannibal couldn’t push him too hard, but Will’s parted lips shined with saliva, and they were such a pretty shape, so plump and bowed. He needed to see them on his cock.

“You can taste it, if you’d like.”

Will froze for a full three seconds, barely breathing. Then he nodded very slightly and swallowed, and Hannibal’s heart raced in anticipation.

Will leaned forward, hesitating with his lips over the head, torturing Hannibal with small puffs of breath that landed on his cock and made it twitch again. Hannibal’s hands turned into fists on his knees and his teeth ground together, instincts all telling him to _take_.

Will made a short noise like a whimper of fear that he quickly swallowed down, and Hannibal’s observation of it was quickly derailed when Will finally closed those last few inches between them and touched his tongue to Hannibal’s cock.

Soft, wet, perfect. Will’s eyelashes fluttering over bright pink cheeks. The touch so shy and unsure that it felt virginal, and Hannibal supposed that in a way, this was another first he was taking from Will.

Will’s tongue tentatively licked up the underside and swiped over the head, and those beautiful lips finally descended, just about to envelope the head, when a spurt of precum came from the tip and onto his tongue.

Wills eyes went wide and he jolted backwards, and in that split second Hannibal was entirely ruled by instinct, and all he knew was that this pretty Omega was rejecting him, trying to escape. He had no control over the aggravated growl that he made, and one of his hands flew from his knee to grasp the Omega’s hair.

They both froze at the same time. Will, eyes wide and absolutely petrified, curiosity and arousal nowhere to be seen, the fear from earlier now amplified by the presence of an angry and aggressive Alpha. Hannibal saw this and knew with dead certainty that the opportunity was gone, and the only way he was getting anything from the Omega now was if he used force to restrain and rape him.

And although it made him grind his teeth to let him go now, leaving Hannibal turned on and sexually frustrated, he had no choice. If he went further, Will would be upset, furious, and covered in DNA evidence and likely enough bruises to strongly imply he had been forced and had no hand in seducing his therapist.

So Hannibal took a deep breath and released Will’s hair.

“I think it’s best if this is where your therapy ends,” he said, voice steadier than he felt.

Will hurriedly backed out of arm’s reach, and said in a small, broken voice, “I really thought I could…”

His eyes squeezed shut and he swayed slightly in place, and when his eyes opened again he looked on the verge of tears.

“I won’t tell my dad,” he added, eyes glued to the ground. He didn’t say anything more before he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Left alone in his office, Hannibal let loose a Lithuanian curse under his breath.

He should have expected that result. If he’d been thinking clearly, he would have paid more attention to the possibility of a trigger arising, if not from his scent then from the taste of him on Will’s tongue. He should have expected Will to be twitchy, and if he’d been expecting Will to withdraw, maybe he wouldn’t have acted on pure instinct and impulse and scared him so badly.

He’d ruined his chance, and now he only had the smallest, briefest tease of pleasure to remember. It was far worse than if he’d simply restrained himself and avoided initiating anything more sexual with Will at all. He could have left never knowing the sight of Will’s hand stroking his cock or the blissful sweet tease of his tongue.

He was still much too hard; it would take too much time to go away on its own. He still had visions of what it would have been like if he’d decided to damn his career and go after the Omega anyway, wrestling him to the floor or chasing him down and pinning him to the wall. So he took those scraps of imagination and jerked himself off angrily, snarling as he imagined Will struggling to escape until he was thoroughly pinned and the fight ruthlessly fucked out of him.

When he came, it was utterly unsatisfying in contrast to those vivid fantasies.

Will was shaking when he walked out of Dr. Lecter’s office. The Alpha had been so close to pouncing on him regardless of the consequences, he knew it. He was a dangerous man, and Will hadn’t even been able to do the one thing that could have hurt him.

He didn’t know what had happened, exactly. One moment it was unpleasant, but tolerable, and the next he was blindsided by a wave of nausea like a punch to the gut. And the next, he heard that Alpha growl and felt the harsh hand in his hair, and Hannibal had looked completely furious, and all of Will’s nerve vanished into fear.

_What now?_

What happened now was nothing. He had missed his last opportunity to get Hannibal in trouble for inappropriate behavior – if Will returned to him now of his own free will, instead of being an innocent patient who had always expressed desire to not be there at all, he would be framed as an obsessive ex-patient intentionally seducing the psychiatrist into behaving badly. And even if it was considered very rude for an Alpha to do anything sexual to an unmated Omega without a guardian’s permission, it wasn’t illegal, and it probably wouldn’t have any bearing on his career if it only happened after Will was no longer his patient.

But he’d been _so fucking close_. He didn’t even wimp out, he just had a reflex he had no control over.

If he’d decided at the last minute _no, this is a fucking stupid idea and I’m not going to do it_ , that would have been one thing. He would have made his choice and taken a different path. But this was like being halfway through the final battle in a game and the dumb game glitches out. It was not his fault, and things had been going smoothly enough before the glitch that he felt (maybe stupidly) that he would be able to finish it and win.

_So_ , he asked himself one more time, _what now?_

And he remembered the fantasies where it had ended with blood instead of cum.

_I can’t do that_ , he thought. But then again, that had been his response when he’d first asked himself if he could do what he needed to do to get Hannibal’s DNA on him, and that had been a thought that scared him a hell of a lot more than the idea of just sticking a knife in the goddamn pervert. And he expected spending time on fantasies about stabbing Hannibal would be a lot more pleasant than the last round had been.

So he started to think about how exactly he might do it, if he were to do it. Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This conversion arc will wrap up soon and the story will be continued in a sequel. I know I don't always notice when a fic is part of a series, so just giving a head's up that if you want to continue to follow this train wreck make sure you're subscribed to the series and not just the fic.
> 
> Updates will continue to be unpredictable, sometimes I can write huge chunks of this at a time and sometimes I can't quite stomach it. But I'm happy it's found an audience and I still have a lot of story left to tell.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilery notes on the "conversion therapy" process: // Hannibal pushes sexist and gender essentialist narratives in talk therapy, attempts sexual conditioning with pain as a deterrent and pleasure as a reward, and rapes Will while in heat while pushing the same narratives and forcing Will to participate in his abuse. It doesn’t change Will’s sexual orientation, but he has involuntary physical arousal from the stimulation when he is raped and it does form some associations in his mind between his rape by an alpha and physical arousal. It also wears down his will to resist and he experiences some uncertainty and self-doubt and wonders if Hannibal might actually have succeeded. //end spoilers
> 
> I expect to get some shit for this, but do let me know if you like this for any reason, I'm hoping it'll balance out in the end. :p


End file.
